Hunter and Hunted
by Josh84
Summary: Kim and Shego have dealt with aliens before, but nothing could prepare them for a close encounter of this kind.
1. Chapter 1

**Hunter and Hunted**

By Josh84

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and characters from the TV series © Disney, Predator © 20th Century Fox.

Rating: M for language, extreme violence and gory scenes.

Special thanks to MaceEcam and Tomboy 601 for beta-reading.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Monique sighed heavily as she plopped down into the booth next to Kim.

"Long night?" Kim asked, placing a sympathetic hand on her friend's arm.

"Long and _slow_, girl." Monique replied tiredly, resting her head in her hands. "We only had a handful of people come into the store, let alone purchase anything. It seems fashion isn't really an issue since the aliens attacked."

During the invasion, when the alien walkers went on their rampage, many buildings were demolished. However, a lot of key buildings, including the hospital, the space center, and the mall, managed to remain more or less untouched.

"Don't worry, Monique," Kim replied with consoling pat on the arm. "Once things settle down, business will pick up again."

"Let's hope so." Monique cast a quick glance around the mostly reconstructed Bueno Nacho – all that was missing was the giant sombrero roof, a plastic film cover in its place; there were only four or five people besides themselves spread out in the restaurant. Immediately, she noticed a certain member of their little group was missing in action. "Where's Ron?"

"Finishing his shift at Smarty Mart; he and Rufus should be here soon." A smirk appeared on the redhead's face. "I'm sure he'll be in worse shape than you."

"Why's that?"

"He got stuck with stockroom duty."

Monique winced, but matched her friend's smirk. "Ooh, tough break."

Just then, the front doors were pushed open, and in came Ron, looking ready to collapse on the spot. Rufus was slung over his shoulder, with the same look of exhaustion as his owner. Ron staggered across the few meters to the booth, and slumped into the seat across from Kim and Monique with a loud groan.

Monique tried very hard to hide her smirk, but with little success. "Another grueling day in the stockroom, huh?" she asked with a casual tone.

"Please." the blond moaned, weakly raising his hand up. "Don't mention 'stockroom.'" He then lifted Rufus off his shoulder. The naked mole rat squeaked a small groan of his own as Ron gently placed him on the tabletop.

After a few minutes of silence, Ron recovered enough to speak normally. "I'm serious, there ought to be some kind of child labor laws for this kind of thing."

"There are. But then you said so yourself when you faced Warhok, you're not a child." Kim added with wry smile.

Ron glared at his girlfriend. "Oh, real nice, Kim, mock my pain; like I didn't get enough of that from Mr. Barkin today." He shifted his gaze straight ahead, glaring into empty space as he recalled the events. All the while, his ire rose as he spoke: "Every time I actually made some progress, in walks Mr. Barkin with more returns to add to the piles, putting me back at square one. And all the time he was wearing a grin that would make any super villain proud, mocking me, relishing in my torment!"

With a growl, he rose to his feet and slammed his fists on the table. Rufus, who was drifting off to dreamland, squeaked in alarm and looked around in a panic. Ron didn't notice as he continued his rant. "Even after graduating, I'M STILL GETTING BARKINED!"

Kim reached across the table, grabbed the collar of his jersey and yanked him down into his seat. "Ron, amp down." she hissed. When he complied, the group looked around to see that everyone in the restaurant was staring at them.

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, I guess I kinda freaked." he chuckled nervously.

"Ya think?" Monique asked; her tone was bone-dry.

"Mm-hmm!" Rufus nodded in agreement.

As Kim and the others got up from the booth and went to the counter to place their order, the other customers returned to their meals. Since it wasn't very busy, it didn't take long for Ned to get their food to them. They then returned to their seats and began to eat. After the first few mouthfuls, Ron and Rufus were quickly rejuvenated and started wolfing down their meals with their usual gusto. Meanwhile, Monique and Kim talked about inconsequential events. Finally, Monique brought up the one topic that only Kim and Ron could relate to.

"So, anything been going on mission-wise?"

Kim shook her head. "Nope, things have been pretty quiet since the Lorwardians invaded a few weeks ago."

"Seems like the bad guys decided to take a vacation, too," Ron said with a smile, "Which I'm glad for, 'cause it's given me the chance to spend some quality time with my bon-diggity girlfriend."

Kim returned the smile as she reached across the table and took his hand in hers. "I'm glad, too, Ron." She then sighed. "Better make the most of it while we can. Before we know it, the villains will be back, with more evil plots we'll need to foil."

"Eh, no big, KP." he replied with a dismissive wave. "After single-handedly stopping an alien invasion, taking on super villains will be a piece of cake."

"Remember, Ron, we didn't fight the Lorwardians alone. Drakken and Shego helped us out," she reminded him, and then added grudgingly; "And, technically, and I _so_ don't like admitting this, it was _Drakken's_ mutant plant plot that saved the world."

"Yeah… I guess," Ron groused. But he quickly brightened. "But it was _yours truly_ who took out Warmonga and Warhok _and_ their mother ship with my mystical monkey mojo," he said, throwing a couple shadow punches.

"Uh-huh." Rufus agreed, mimicking Ron's movements and squeaking "Hai-yah!"

"Yes, you did, Ron." Kim agreed with a warm smile.

"Speaking of Drakken and Shego, what happened to them?" Monique asked curiously.

"Apparently, Drakked received a medal for saving the world, and Global Justice granted him and Shego amnesty," Kim answered. "Haven't heard from or seen them since."

"You think they've given up the villain gig?"

"I don't know," she replied. "The whole reason Drakken tried to take over the world was to be recognized for his genius. Now that he's done that, he may go good and leave it at that."

"What about Shego?"

Kim thought for a moment. "Her, I have doubts about," she sighed. "I'm thinking that if Drakken did go good, Shego might continue the villain thing on her own, freelancing and mercenary-type stuff."

"You don't think she'd do the super hero thing again?"

"No," Kim answered immediately. "She did that with her brothers for years, and then she quit."

"And if you met her brothers, you'd see why." Ron mentioned, Rufus nodding in affirmation.

"Okay, how about Global Justice?" Monique inquired. "Couldn't she work for them? They pay, don't they?"

"Yes, which begs the question why _we_ haven't joined them, yet." Ron stated, giving Kim a look.

Kim rolled her eyes and turned back to Monique, ignoring her boyfriend's remark. "While GJ does pay, they also have certain procedures and protocols that would set limits for Shego. And I know she would have issues with that. She likes to follow her own rules."

She fell silent as she turned to stare out the window, her mind now on the green woman. In truth, Kim truly hoped that Shego would change her ways. It would be great if the two could fight side by side, like they have done on a couple separate occasions, instead of constantly fighting each other. Maybe they could even become friends.

Ron and Monique shared a glance before looking back at the redhead as she continued to look out the window with a solemn expression. Ron, unaware of Kim's thoughts, figured that she was brought down by the idea of having to continue to fight Shego in the future. He decided to try and boost her spirits.

"Stress not, KP," he said in his usual upbeat manner, "If Shego does decide to keep causing trouble; you can take a break and _I'll_ take her on. After all, I _am_ the Monkey Master." He emphasized his point by waving his arms in an exaggerated kung fu fashion. As he executed a hand chop that slammed into the table, his fingers hit the tip of a plate of half-eaten nachos, catapulting a large glob of cheese through the air, which splattered right in the center of his face.

Monique rip-snorted, breaking into a large grin as she laughed, "More like… the _Splatter_ Master!"

Kim snorted softly, the corners of her mouth curling into a small smile, which was growing broader every second as she looked at her boyfriend sitting there, wide-eyed with cheese oozing down his face. Her snorting quickly gave way to giggling, and it was at this point that Rufus leapt up onto Ron's shoulder. Whether it was to help his owner, or just help himself, the naked mole rat started to lick the cheese off Ron's face, causing the young man to sputter, "Rufus! Stop it!" Finally Kim gave up her struggle and started laughing, too.

After a few minutes, the girls' laughter died down, an occasional giggle escaping now and again, and Ron was able to shoo Rufus away and use a napkin to wipe off the leftover cheese sauce. When he finished cleaning up, he looked at Kim, and he smiled. Though the cheese was not part of his plan, it helped him accomplish his mission: putting that wonderful smile back on his girlfriend's face.

The three friends and naked mole rat soon returned to their meals, just enjoying the peaceful silence and each other's company. Suddenly, a sound caught Kim's attention, causing her to look out the restaurant's window. At the same time, Ron, after washing down his latest mouthful with soda, let loose a hearty—and _loud_—belch.

"Ron!" Monique snapped.

"Did you hear that?" Kim asked.

Monique looked at her dryly. "Kim, _everyone_ here heard that," she answered just as dryly, motioning to the other diners, who were looking at their table once again.

Kim shook her head. "No, not Ron, that booming sound," she said, looking back out the window. "It came from outside."

"Booming sound?" Monique repeated, raising a curious eyebrow.

"I didn't hear anything," Ron said, turning to look out the window. Rufus shook his head, indicating he didn't hear the anything either.

"Considering that belch you just let loose, I'd be surprised if you did," Monique flatly replied. Ignoring his glare, she turned to Kim and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What do you think it was, Kim?"

Kim kept silent as she stared out the window, waiting to see if she would hear the sound again or maybe see what caused it. Over the next couple minutes, she heard nothing except the gossip of the diners in Bueno Nacho. She sighed as she shook her head, and looked back to her friends. "I guess I'm just hearing things," she assured them with a small smile. "It's nothing."

At that instant, there were four loud pops. This time, everyone heard it. The customers were looking out the windows, murmuring nervously.

"But _that_ was something," Monique said warily, casting a glance out the window as Kim had done.

"Post-Fourth of July fireworks?" Ron guessed uneasily. The serious look that appeared on Kim's face immediately told him that wasn't it.

"Gunshots," she grimly stated.

Recognizing the look on her face and the tone of her voice, Monique quickly scooted out of her seat, Kim close behind her. As soon as she was on her feet, the redhead made a beeline for the doors. Ron got out of the booth as Rufus leapt from the table into Ron's pant pocket, and the boy chased after her, Monique close behind.

Kim burst through the double doors and came to a halt, her friends coming to a stop on either side of her a second later. She carefully looked around, her eyes scanning for any signs of disturbance. Just then, another shot rang out, and Kim's head shot to the right; the sound came from that direction. As Kim sprinted down the street, with her friends on her heels, her Kimmunicator beeped.

"Wade," she answered, barely sparing a glance at the device.

"Kim, I'm monitoring the police scanner," the tech guru informed her. "There was a call-in reporting gunfire, two blocks east of your location."

"Already moving," she replied before shutting off the Kimmunicator. After a couple minutes, the group closed in on the location; there was a small crowd of people standing on the sidewalk outside the coffee shop, nervously looking towards an alleyway further down the street, but keeping their distance.

"What's the sitch?" Kim asked the group as she came to a stop. A guy who worked at the coffee shop stepped up to her to answer her question.

"We were all inside, and there was this loud boom," he explained, "Like a cannon or something."

Ron and Monique shared a look that said "So Kim _did_ hear a booming sound". Kim just focused on the man as he continued; "I stepped outside to look around. Then I heard a man scream and then a crash coming from the alley. A few seconds later, I heard gunshots and saw muzzle fire. I ran in and told someone to call the police." He paused, taking a deep breath and exhaling. "After that last shot, it's been quiet. No one's come out, and none of us have gone near there," he added, warily glancing at the alley.

Kim placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention again. "Just keep everyone back. We'll check it out." When he nodded in affirmation, she cautiously started towards the alleyway, with Ron and Monique close behind her. They were a few meters from the alley's entrance when Ron spoke up.

"Hey, isn't that Bonnie's car?"

Almost instinctively, Kim craned her head around and spotted a white, topless German Mercedes parked a few feet from them. She was about to turn to Ron to tell him to keep his head in the game, but stopped when she noticed two things that caught her attention – the first was the keys hanging in the door lock, and the second was the turned over to-go coffee cup on the sidewalk by the car, the leaking brown liquid forming a small puddle.

Casting a quick glance at the alleyway, Kim changed course and headed for the car, and the others followed her. As she knelt down over the spilled coffee cup, Monique walked around to the front to see the license plate, which read "BNIE-1" on it. "It _is_ her car," she confirmed.

Kim dipped her index and middle finger into the puddle. It was still warm. A small ball of ice started to form in the pit of her stomach as she turned to look back at the dimly lit alleyway.

Meanwhile, Ron looked in the car and noticed a book bag filled with school books and papers. He then remembered how Bonnie was the only one who didn't graduate with the rest of them and was forced to go to summer school to get that last credit she needed. Despite the way she treated him and his friends throughout high school, Ron couldn't help but feel a ping of pity for the girl.

"So, where is Bonnie?" he asked distractedly. He looked at Kim as she stood up and saw that she was looking towards the alley again. A couple seconds later, something clicked in his head, and he paled in realization. "Oh, no." he whispered.

The three of them cautiously made their way toward the alleyway again. As they got closer, they pressed themselves against the wall just outside the alley's entrance. Kim took a couple deep breaths, preparing for the worst. Then she moved the last few inches and carefully peaked around the corner. Seeing no immediate danger, she moved to stand directly in the entranceway, Ron and Monique moving to stand on either side. Their wide eyes took in the scene.

The alleyway was lit by a single bulb that was positioned above the side entrance of the right building. The bulb occasionally flickered and didn't give off much light, but there was enough to let them see everything. A few of the trashcans were overturned, spilling their putrid contents onto the ground; some of them were heavily dented, as if someone took a sledge hammer to them. But that's not what caught the team's attention.

It was the blood.

There was _a lot_ of blood. It covered the ground in splatters here and there, and there were at least two pretty good-sized puddles of it. There was a small streak of the dark red fluid across the right wall like spray paint, and the left wall had a large splatter that looked like someone threw a ketchup bottle at the wall, which exploded on impact.

"My God." Monique whispered, her hands flying to her mouth.

"It's like something out of a horror movie," Ron gulped, horrified. Rufus poked his head out of the pocket, gave a shuddering chatter, and ducked back down, leaving only his eyes visible.

Kim was also shaken, though she recovered quickly. She looked at the blood puddles and noticed that the some of the edges were smeared outward, like something was dragged through them, forming red trails on the concrete that were leading to the back of the alley.

"Stay close." Kim whispered as she cautiously moved forward, tensed and ready for anything. Ron and Monique needed no further encouragement as they got up right behind her, leaving only the barest of space between them. As they approached the blood smears, they tried their best to get through without actually stepping into the mess, but considering it covered most of the ground, it couldn't really be helped.

Along the way, Kim saw an open switchblade on the ground, blood splattered on both the blade and handle. A little further along, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a gun barrel sticking out from underneath a trashcan lid. Kim stepped over to the lid, knelt down and took hold of the handle, and lifted the lid.

Kim gasped as she backed away, dropping the lid, which hit the ground with a loud, reverberating _clang_. When the others looked over her shoulders, Monique paled, Ron gave wheezing gasp, and Rufus let out a frightened squeak and ducked fully back into the pocket, pulling the pocket flap down over him.

It wasn't the gun itself that shocked them; it was a standard 9mm semi-automatic pistol, the kind similar to what policemen carry. It was the severed hand, cut cleanly at the wrist, the fingers clutching the hand grip, and the index finger wrapped tightly around the trigger, that got them wigging.

"Okay, I'm really getting freaked here." Ron said, trembling.

"I got you beat, boy! I'm already freaked!" Monique nearly shrieked.

Kim quickly shushed them both. "Listen," she whispered. When they complied, they immediately heard it. It was soft, but unmistakable – the sound of whimpering. They quickly looked around for the source.

"Kim, over there," Monique said as she pointed to a pair of upright trashcans. Behind them was a pair of dainty, shaking, shoe-covered feet. The trio carefully inched their way over. Once they got close enough they slowly peaked over the trashcans to see…

"Bonnie!" Kim gasped.

She wasn't sure what she would find going into that alley. She had feared the worst. She was relieved to find her high school rival alive, but that feeling was short lived and quickly replaced with shock when she got a good look at her current state.

Bonnie was on the ground, curled up in a ball, shaking like a leave in the wind. The zipper on her jean shorts was undone and they were pulled down just past her hips, revealing her black panties underneath. Her shirt had been sliced straight down the middle and was hanging in on her shoulders like a makeshift vest. It also looked like the front of her black bra was also cut, revealing her breasts, which were now covered by her crossed arms as she hugged herself. Most of the front of her upper body was covered with splattered blood, including her neck, her hair and the top half of her face. Her left eye was open wide with fright, while the right was nearly swollen shut, and there was a trail of blood from her nose to her upper lip and a second trail from her lower lip to her chin.

Kim quickly rounded the trashcans, kneeling down beside Bonnie. Monique followed suit and knelt on the opposite side of the shivering girl. Ron stood back behind Kim, looking on with concern, while at the same time, trying not to stare at Bonnie's barely covered cleavage. He was about to ask if she was okay, but for once he was able to bite back the question before it escaped his lips. It was obvious, even to _him_, that Bonnie was not okay.

"Bonnie," Kim spoke. She got no response. She gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Bonnie, it's me. It's Kim. Can you hear me?"

The brunette gave no sign of hearing her. She just sat there in the fetal position, trembling.

"Look at her." Monique said softly. "The girl is scared to death."

Kim nodded. Whatever happened, Bonnie must have been right in the middle of it.

She was brought out her reverie by soft murmuring, coming from Bonnie. She leaned in close, as did Monique. A minute later, they pulled back and looked at each other in confusion.

"What's she saying?" Ron asked, noticing their expressions.

"I don't know," Kim replied. "She's not making much sense."

Monique spoke up. "She keeps saying, 'It came out of nowhere.' 'It killed them.'"

Kim activated her Kimmunicator. "Wade, we're at the scene. Bonnie's hurt and in shock. I need an ambulance ASAP."

"You got it, Kim," he replied as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "The police are on their way; ETA, five minutes."

"Thanks." As the screen went black, Kim looked back at Bonnie; she had fallen silent again, an occasional whimper the only thing passing her quivering lips. Kim then turned her attention back to the blood trail at their feet. It ran all the way to the back of the alley, splatters leading up the back wall.

"Monique, stay with Bonnie." she said. "The police will be here soon."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna follow that blood trail and see who it leads me to."

Monique fell silent for a moment. The idea of her best friend going after who did… _whatever_ happened here made her worried. But she knew that once Kim set her mind to something, there was no talking her out of it. "Be careful." she finally said.

Kim nodded and then turned to her boyfriend. "Let's go, Ron." With that, she dashed toward the back wall and with a show of cheerleading prowess, leapt over it, somersaulted in mid-air, and gracefully landed on the other side.

"Right behind ya, KP!" he called. He then broke into a run. As he reached the back wall, he narrowed his eyes, concentrating, summoning some of the mystical monkey power within him. At the last second, he veered to the right, planted his foot on the wall of the building and used it to launch himself into the air towards the wall of the opposite building. He repeated the process once more, and he leapt over the back wall.

Unfortunately, he didn't gain enough height to completely clear the wall, and his foot hooked onto the ledge. As a result, he was flung straight down, where he bellyflopped onto a dumpster, and immediately bounced head-over-heels and slammed back first onto the concrete, completely knocking the wind out of him.

As soon as he sucked air into his lungs, he expelled it in a pained groaned. Rufus flopped out of his pant pocket, moaning as he felt his tiny head spin. Slowly, Ron rolled over and got onto his hands and knees. After catching his breath again, he got to his feet, though he was hunched over and clutching his back with one hand.

"Okay… that didn't… go very well." he moaned. As he straightened up, his back and neck popped, making him wince through clenched teeth. After the pain subsided he turned to look for Kim, and he spotted her moving up the street. He started to run, but came to a halt as a sharp pain shot through his back, making him yelp in agony. He settled for a steady power-walk, clutching his back all the way. Rufus, finally shaking off the dizziness, scampered after him.

XXXXXXX

Kim continued to follow the seemingly endless trail of blood. It moved from the street up onto the sidewalk, and soon it moved to the grass, staining the green blades dark red. Finally, the trail came to an end. She came to a stop and raised an eyebrow. At the end of the trail, sat three loose piles of what appeared to be clothes. She took a closer look, and then her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped; there were what looked like human intestines and other internal organs amongst the ripped, torn, bloodstained clothing.

Just then, a trickle of blood splattered onto one of the piles, bringing Kim's attention upward. As soon as she looked up, she paled more than she had before.

XXXXXXX

As the pain finally began to fade, Ron started to pick up speed. He was fully jogging when he finally saw Kim had stopped. "Kim!" he called. As he got closer, he saw that she was on her knees, and her back was to him. He walked up and plopped down beside her, panting heavily. Not far behind, Rufus ran all the way until he came to a stop between the two humans.

"Did you… find anything, KP?" he asked. When he got no response, he finally looked at her. He immediately grew concerned when he saw her face, which was very pale, and the look she had – a look of fright. "KP?" he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. He followed her line of vision, and his face quickly grew just as pale as hers.

Above them was a billboard, but whatever was being advertised on it was completely lost to them. Hanging from the lights above the billboard were three bodies – completely skinned.

Ron began to hyperventilate. Less than a minute later, he felt his supper quickly travel up his throat. He didn't try to hold it back; instead he lurched forward and deposited his nacos onto the bloodstained grass in front of him.

Rufus, trembling in fear, ran up Kim's shoulder, and hid himself in her auburn hair.

Kim did not notice either of them. She just stayed transfixed on the three blood-soaked corpses, hanging like sides of beef in a slaughterhouse. She couldn't look away; in fact, she found herself taking in the details of them individually, each differing in some way.

She studied the one on the far right first. Based on its size, it was a man. In the center of his chest was a large, gaping wound. It looked like it was caused by a large firearm, or at least one with power, like a shotgun. Though she couldn't see from where she was, she bet that whatever made the wound went all the way through him.

The second body in the middle was also male. The only injury that she could see was the head. The top of the skull was caved in, a steady stream of blood pouring from it.

Kim turned her eyes to the final corpse on the left. This one was smaller in size than the first two and was curved differently; this one was a female. What caught Kim's attention immediately was the woman's left hand… or lack thereof. She had been the one holding the gun. Upon looking closer, Kim saw what looked like two deep puncture wounds in the woman's torso, possibly the cause of death.

Finally, through a sheer act of will, Kim forced her eyes closed and turned her head down towards the ground, taking deep breaths, trying to fight back the wave of nausea she felt, pausing to swallow the bile in the back of her throat. She then became aware of her surroundings; she hadn't even realized that she had fallen to her knees. She then heard heaving to her right, and she looked to see Ron hunched over a pool of vomit, gasping. She crawled over and placed an arm around him. He tensed at the contact. "Its okay, Ron." she spoke softly. "Just breathe." He quickly relaxed, leaning into her embrace, and slowly began to breath normally again.

Kim heard the faint but growing sound of sirens, and she looked over her shoulder to see the flashing lights coming down the street. She was then aware of a small quivering mass on the back of her neck. Using her free hand, she reached around under her lion's mane and pulled out Rufus. The poor thing was curled up in a shivering ball, whimpering, just like Bonnie before. She brought him closer to her chest, using her thumb to gently stroke his head, whispering softly, "Its okay, Rufus. It's okay."

She continued to hold them both close, comforting them as the police cars came pulling up to the curb.

XXXXXXX

Over the next several minutes, police were setting up barricades, redirecting cars and keeping people who were gathering back.

Kim had just finished giving her statement to an officer. As he walked away, another walked up, one that she recognized. "Officer Hobble."

"Kim Possible," he greeted. "Miss Rockwaller was taken to the hospital. Your friend, Monique, went with her."

"Thanks."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken."

"I'm not surprised, after what you've seen," he said sympathetically. He then looked at  
Ron sitting on the back of the second ambulance, breathing into an oxygen mask as a paramedic looked him over. "What about him?"

Kim looked at Ron, before turning back to Hobble. "He's pretty shaken up." She then turned and walked over to the ambulance, the police chief close behind her. As they got closer, they noticed Rufus sitting next to Ron, breathing into a second mask, though it was too big for him.

"How is he?" Kim asked the paramedic.

"A couple bruises from his little tumble, but nothing serious. He should be fine."

Kim nodded and then placed a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "How are you feeling, Ron?"

He pulled the mask away and looked at her. "They had no skin, KP. They had no skin!"

"No skin." Rufus parroted, still breathing into his mask.

"I know, Ron." Kim replied gently, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Even the uncut edition of Zombie Mayhem didn't have that kind of carnage." he ranted. "What we just saw was a whole new level of sick and wrong!"

Just then, two EMT's wheeled a stretcher carrying a body bag up to the ambulance. Ron watched as they loaded it into the ambulance; he then started hyperventilating again, and he quickly looked away, putting the oxygen mask back on and taking deep breaths.

As the other two bodies were being loaded, Officer Hobble shook his head grimly as he looked on. "Poor bastards," he said. During his years on the force, he had seen many horrible things, but nothing like this. "No way for anyone to die."

Kim nodded as they loaded the last body onto the ambulance. She then looked to Ron and Rufus. "Come on, guys. We should meet up Monique at the hospital and see how Bonnie's doing."

"I'm all for that," Ron replied as he put the mask aside and quickly got to his feet. Rufus followed suit, leaping to the ground.

"Can I give you a lift?" Officer Hobble offered indicating his police car.

"That's okay, we'll take my car. Thanks, Officer Hobble," Kim said politely.

The police chief nodded. "Take care, you two," he said before turning to leave.

The paramedic closed the back door of the ambulance, and a minute later, the engine started off and the vehicle drove away. Kim, Ron and Rufus stood in silence, oblivious to the police and onlookers gathered, focused on the ambulance as it disappeared down the street.

"Who do you think did this, Kim?" Ron asked after awhile.

Kim was silent for moment. "I don't know, Ron." she finally replied. She then turned to him, that all-too-familiar look of determination on her face. "But we're going to find out."

"I knew you were going to say that." he said, a small smile on his face.

Kim's expression softened and she returned the smile. She then took his hand into hers. "Let's go."

The two of them walked in the direction of Bueno Nacho, Rufus scampering beside them. Suddenly, the naked mole rat came to a halt as a soft breeze blew past him. It carried a scent to his nostrils that made his instincts flare up. He looked in the direction the wind had blown from, trying to locate the source of the smell. His owner's voice interrupted his search.

"Rufus, come on!"

Rufus looked back to his retreating humans before casting a quick glance back to where he was looking. Finally, he gave up and chased after Kim and Ron, but he was still on edge. The scent he got a whiff of was one he was all too familiar with – the scent of danger.

Had he looked on a few seconds longer, he would have seen a large silhouette shimmer into view atop a nearby building, before it disappeared a second later.

_To be continued…_

_Next time: Bonnie tells Kim what happened in the alleyway._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Kim Possible © Disney, Predator © 20th Century Fox.

I want to thank xxDark Angel Babyxx, The High Demon Lord, King in Yellow, MaceEcam, Wanderer3, Muzzlehatch, A Bottle of Mayo, The Phenom and Mr Crossover for their reviews.

And thanks to Tomboy 601 and MaceEcam for beta-reading this chapter.

_**Warning: This chapter contains graphic description of attempted rape, plus some heavy profanity, and things get bloody… well, bloodier. This is why I gave this an "M" rating. Read at your own risk. You have been warned.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Kim and Ron walked through hospital's front entrance and into the lobby, and they looked around to try and find Monique. Rufus was the first to spot her, squeaking to get their attention and pointing to a corner of the waiting room. The girl was sitting in one of the chairs, talking to a policeman standing in front of her. The officer was jotting something on a notepad; most likely her statement.

As they walked towards them, the policeman pocketed his notepad, thanked Monique and walked off. Monique then noticed her friends approaching. In an instant, she rose to her feet, quickly walked the remaining distance and embraced them both.

"I'm glad to see you, guys." she said as she held them. "I was getting worried."

"We're okay, Monique." Kim replied as she returned the hug. A few seconds later, they pulled apart. "How's Bonnie?"

Monique shook her head. "Your mom's still looking at her." she replied. She then noticed the large book bag slung over Kim's shoulder. "Kim, is that…?"

Kim nodded. "Bonnie's schoolwork; I picked it up for her. I figured after what she's gone through, the last thing she needs is Barkin on her case about that."

Monique nodded, and they all fell silent. After a few minutes Monique spoke up again. "So what happened? Did you find whoever attacked Bonnie?"

Kim expression hardened, while Ron and Rufus just paled. "Yeah… we found them alright." Kim answered grimly.

Judging from their reactions, Monique wasn't sure if she wanted to know. However, she found herself asking; "Was it that bad?"

"Let me put is this way, Monique." Ron answered before Kim could. "What we saw made Mystery Meat look delicious."

Monique immediately paled as her hands flew to her mouth, choking back a gag. After a moment, she pulled her hands away and gulped. "I don't want to know." she said weakly.

"Kimmie."

Kim turned in the direction of the voice, and saw her mother approaching them. "Mom," she said stepping up to her. "How's Bonnie?"

"She's okay, Honey. Her injuries weren't as severe as I thought when she was brought in." Ann assured her. "She's got a few scrapes, bruises on her face, arms and upper body. Her nose was severely bruised; it's a wonder it's not broken. She's got a nasty bump on the back of her head. A couple chipped teeth, a split lip and a cracked rib. Not to mention she's going to have quite a shiner for a few days." She paused. "From the way she looked when she was brought in, whoever attacked her also tried to rape her, but thank goodness, it seems they never got the chance."

Kim sighed in relief at that, and she heard similar sighs from her friends. "What about all the blood she was covered in?" she inquired.

"Aside from the blood from her nose and lip, the rest wasn't hers," Ann replied. "We checked her over as we cleaned her up, but there weren't any deep cuts or lacerations that we could find."

Again, Kim was relieved. "Can we see her?" she asked after a moment.

Ann nodded and led them down the hall. When they reached the room, she turned back to them. "Try not to stay too long. She needs rest."

"Okay." Kim said with a nod. As her mother walked back down the hall, she turned back to the door.

"Uh, are you sure you want to go in there, KP?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Kim turned to her boyfriend and saw the reluctant look on his face.

"Don't get me wrong, Kim. I'm glad she's gonna be all right, but… this is _Bonnie_ we're talking about." Ron pointed out.

"Uh-huh, Bonnie," Rufus squeaked.

"They're right, girl." Monique said. "She hasn't really been our friend. We're probably the last people she'd want to see, especially now."

"I know." Kim sighed. "But I need to find out what happened. You guys can wait here if you want," she assured them.

Ron and Monique exchanged glances. After a moment they turned back to Kim, fresh looks of determination on their faces.

"What? And let you face her alone?" Monique said with a smirk.

"We've got your back, KP." Ron agreed, giving her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up. Rufus mimicked the hand gesture with an enthusiastic, "Oh, yeah!"

Kim grinned at their antics. Turning back to the door, she took a deep breath and gently pushed the door open, and they quietly entered the room. Immediately, they spotted Bonnie, dressed in a hospital gown and lying in the hospital bed, her eyes closed; she didn't hear them come in.

As she moved closer, Kim took in Bonnie's appearance. As her mother had said, the blood had been cleaned up, revealing the real damage done. There were a few dark bruises on her face, and the skin around her right eye was swollen and was a purplish black. There were also lighter bruises on her arms, indicating they had been gripped roughly. There was a bandage across her nose and the top of her head was wrapped in gauze. Despite her injuries, she didn't look near as bad as when they first found her.

Kim quietly took the book bag from her shoulder and set in a nearby chair before stepping up to the bed, Ron and Monique standing a couple feet behind her. She leaned in a little closer and whispered so as not to startle the girl; "Bonnie?"

The brunette's eyes fluttered open. She stiffened for a few seconds when she saw Kim, but then she relaxed and let out a disgruntled sigh. "You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you?" she said. "Seeing me like this."

"No, Bonnie," Kim answered. "I wouldn't wish this kind of thing on anybody. Not even you."

Bonnie just looked away, which took Kim by surprise. She had expected Bonnie to shoot back with a harsh retort, as she usually did, or blame her for her current condition, or even just glare at her with contempt.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Kim finally spoke again, trying to be a little enthusiastic. "Mom's says that you're going to be just fine."

"Like you care," Bonnie muttered.

Kim sighed. "Bonnie, I _do_ care. I'm glad you're gonna be okay."

"You shouldn't be!" Bonnie snapped, turning back to look at Kim. "I've treated you and you're friends like shit, I rubbed all of my successes in your face, anytime you messed up or made a mistake, I flaunted it, and I even kissed Ron, right in front of you no less." She then shuddered. "I still can't believe I did that."

"Oh, come on." Ron spoke up, "it wasn't that bad, was it?" This earned him stares from everyone in the room; except Kim – she gave him an icy glare. "N-not that that matters, of course." he quickly said, taking a few steps back, chuckling nervously.

Kim turned back to Bonnie as she continued; "And to top it all off, you then went out of your way to hook me up with Junior, and do I thank you for that? No, I go back to being a bitch and practically flip you off for all your trouble." She looked at Kim, looking her right in the eyes. "Why? Why, after all that's happened between us, would you still help me?"

"Because that's just how I am, B." Kim answered without hesitation, her gaze never leaving Bonnie's. "I naturally care for the lives of others, including yours." She paused. "I won't lie, you have been a royal pain to me and my friends, and there have been times where I wanted to see you put in your place."

She then surprised the brunette by gently taking her hand into hers. "But not like this." she continued sincerely. "_Never_ like this, Bonnie."

Bonnie just stared back at her, her expression unreadable. She then turned away again with a sigh, but didn't speak. The room was once again cast into silence, no one saying anything. All the while, Kim noticed, Bonnie did not try to pull her hand away.

"They're dead, you know." Bonnie finally said.

"Yeah, I know." Kim replied, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

Bonnie then turned her head enough to look at Kim in the corner of her eye. "You want to know what happened." It was more a statement than a question.

Kim nodded. "You said 'it' killed them. What exactly was… _it_?"

Bonnie hesitated; Kim saw the troubled look on her face. She quickly gave Bonnie's hand a comforting squeeze. "You don't have to tell us what they did to you, Bonnie." She told her gently. "We just need to know what happened to the guys who attacked you."

Bonnie visibly relaxed a little, but didn't start speaking right away. Kim didn't say anything, letting the girl take her time; she knew that this was going to be hard for her.

Finally, Bonnie began to tell Kim and the others the incident, leaving certain details out. All the while though, the entire scene replayed in her mind with crystal clarity.

XXXXXXX

_Bonnie exited the coffee shop with a weary sigh before taking a sip of her latte. She made the short trek down the street to where her car was parked. Once there, she slipped the heavy book bag off her shoulder with her free hand and unceremoniously threw it into the backseat. She had finally finished the assignments for her summer school class. All that was left was turning them in to Barkin and receive her diploma._

_The thought of her former teacher made Bonnie frown in contempt. It wasn't enough that jerk didn't let her graduate; he then had the gall to make her take a full semester summer class to earn _one_ credit for her diploma._

_Bonnie had never been so humiliated in all her life. After the ceremony, her parents expressed their disappointment and then gave her a lecture about the importance of education, responsibility and all that junk. Her sisters, who had surprisingly attended, happily took advantage of the situation to make fun of her. Worst of all, she was sure that Kim, her loser boyfriend, and the rest of her classmates got some enjoyment from her misfortune._

_The brunette quickly forced the memory to the back of her mind. No sense dwelling on the past. Despite the misgivings she had to suffer, things were finally going her way. She was finished with high school; she wouldn't have to put up with Barkin or Kim again; her family had gone on vacation out of town, so she had the house to herself. And best of all, she had a super-rich boyfriend to enjoy it with._

_Bonnie smiled, mollified by this thought. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. She inserted them into the door lock…_

_Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around her waist. She let out a startled cry, but it was silenced by the hand that clamped around her mouth. She dropped her latte and she reached up to pry the hand off as she was dragged away. She thrashed and flailed to get loose, but her assailant's grip held firm._

_She was dragged into a dimly lit alley, and her assailant came to halt. Before she could renew her struggle, a man stepped in front of her; he had the same build as Brick, looked to be in his late twenties, had short, red hair and he wore black shirt, a vest, and jeans._

"_Scream and you'll wish you've never been born." he warned with growl._

_Bonnie stopped her struggles and went still. The hand around her mouth pulled away and settled onto her shoulder, but she didn't attempt a scream. From the look in the guy's eyes, she could tell he was serious about his threat. She looked to her right and saw a woman, who looked around the same age as the guy; she had blonde hair that stopped a few inches past her shoulders, had on a small, red tank top that hardly covered her and pair of leather pants that hugged tightly to her hips._

"_Pretty thing, isn't she, Johnny?" the woman asked as she stepped closer, reached into Bonnie's pocket and pulled out her wallet. This made the brunette protest, but she fell silent as the hand on her shoulder tightened._

"_Sure is, Sass." the man now known as Johnny said as the woman stepped back. His brow furrowed as he looked at Bonnie. "Come to think of it, she looks kinda familiar, doesn't she?"_

_Sass gave Bonnie a glance. She then gave a shrug before turning her attention to the contents of the wallet. Johnny just shook his head and turned to the one holding Bonnie. "What do_ _you think, Devon?"_

_The hand on Bonnie's shoulder moved to grip the top of her head, which was roughly craned back so Devon could see her face and she could see his. He was a dark-skinned man, a small beard and mustache on his face, and his black hair was tied in dreadlocks. From what she could see, he was wearing a college sports coat over a white shirt, but she couldn't tell which school it was from._

"_Yeah, now that you mention it," Devon said, "I feel like I've seen her from somewhere."_

"_Whoever she is, she got some serious bank." Sass said as she pulled out several hundred dollar bills from Bonnie's wallet and stuck them in her back pocket. She then pulled out several different credit cards and whistled. "Pretty high-priced plastic, too. We hit the jackpot here."_

"_Those were a gift from my boyfriend." Bonnie snapped hotly. "And he happens to be a super-villain. When he hears about this, you're gonna regret messing with me."_

"_Lippy little bitch, isn't she?" Johnny sneered._

"_She sure is." Devon chuckled. "She sounds a lot like those Rockwaller sisters. Remember?"_

_Bonnie stiffened at that comment._

"_Yeah…" Johnny replied with a scowl. "Connie and Lonnie…I remember." His eyes widened in realization as he looked at Bonnie. "That's why you look familiar. You look so much like them."_

"_She should." Sass said. A wicked smirk was on her face as she stepped closer to Johnny and held up the now empty wallet. "She's their little sister."_

_Johnny gaped at this, and he took the wallet and looked at Bonnie's driver's license, paying close attention to her name. "Bonnie… Rockwaller." He read aloud._

_The smile that crossed his face made Bonnie shiver. "You're right, babe," he said to Sass. "We hit the jackpot."_

_Johnny stepped closer to Bonnie until he was a couple feet in front of her. "Oh, we know your sisters well." he began. "They were juniors when we became freshman in high school. Like you, they looked down their noses at everyone else, including us. But I was attracted to them, nonetheless. So, I worked up the courage to ask them out. Now, back then, before I became a jock, I was just an average guy with average looks. And they turned me down."_

"_That's a big shock." Bonnie said sarcastically. Despite the situation, she smirked. "Like my sisters would date someone obviously below their standards."_

_No sooner had she finished that Johnny backhanded her across her face, snapping her head to the side. Before she could register what happened, he roughly gripped her by her hair with one hand and her chin with the other, and forcefully turned her head so she was facing him again. The look in his eyes almost bordered psychotic._

"_Definitely like her sisters." Devon chuckled._

"_This is a bitter subject for him." Sass told Bonnie in a very casual tone. "So, for your own sake, you best just keep quiet."_

_As everyone fell silent Johnny continued; he face showed that he calmed, and that crazy look of in his eyes had diminished… just a little. "Now, it wouldn't have been so bad getting turned down, if only it stopped there. But your sisters decided to go out of their way to make my life really miserable. Oh, they treated everyone like shit, but they came down on me the hardest; like I committed a major crime just by talking to them. They spread rumors about me, making it hard for me to get with any girl, and making me a target for their friends to prank and ridicule me. Oh, they made my life a living hell."_

_Johnny paused for a moment to catch his breath. "Yet, even though I grew to hate them, I still wanted to screw them both. Just one time, just so I could see how good they were, and at the same time pay those bitches back for what they put me through. But I never got the chance." He then looked Bonnie right in the eyes as he continued; "Now, I've been given another chance."_

_Bonnie froze and her eyes widened in horror when she registered what he was saying. "You… you're gonna…" she stammered._

"_Oh, yes." he finished with a leer. He leaned in close until his face was only a few inches apart from hers. "I'm going to fuck you."_

_Bonnie was filled with panic. Instinct took over at that point, and her knee shot up and found its mark in Johnny's crotch, sinking into the flesh at least two inches._

_He fell back a couple steps, a dulled cry escaping his lips. As he doubled over, his hands moving to cradle his wounded crotch, Bonnie quickly brought her raised leg down and slammed her foot into Devon's shin before he could react. He screamed a curse, and his grip on Bonnie loosened. Not wasting the opportunity, Bonnie pushed herself free and ran straight for the alley entranceway, her lungs preparing to let loose a scream for help._

_Just then her head jerked back, bringing her to a halt. And instead of a scream for help, she let loose a cry of pain as her scalp suddenly felt like it was on fire._

"_Not so fast." Sass said, amused, as she maintained her death-grip on Bonnie's hair. She then pulled the brunette back, and threw out her leg to trip the girl. Bonnie practically flew through the air before crashing onto a couple trashcans._

_She hit the ground and was showered with garbage a second later as the cans toppled over. She was oblivious to this, as her body was wracked with pain. She tried to push it aside as she got to her hands and knees. She had to hurry before…_

"_You fucking bitch!"_

_Bonnie looked up in time to see a boot fly into view and hit her squarely in the face. The force of that kick knocked her onto her back. She reached up to clutch at her face. Her nose was burning, possibly broken. But she didn't have time to worry about that as pain suddenly erupted in her gut. The kick completely knocked the wind out of her, preventing her from screaming._

_She was then hauled to her feet and thrown up against the wall. What followed was a blur as punch after punch rained down upon her body and face. It was happening so fast that she barely had time to register the pain from a blow before new pain blossomed. Just as suddenly, the blows stopped. Bonnie's vision cleared just long enough to see Johnny standing in front of her and throwing another punch that hit her square in her right eye; the punch knocked her head against the brick wall with a jarring _thud_._

_Bonnie slid down the wall and fell to the ground in a slump. She was breathing heavily, choking out sobs as her body felt like a giant bruise. She felt a sharp pain in her side with every breath she took, and she felt her right eye already beginning to swell. White spots danced across her vision and she felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness._

_She was about pass out when the sudden flare in her scalp brought her back to full consciousness. As her head was pulled back, she opened her mouth to let out a scream, but it was stifled when something was roughly shoved into her mouth. Her eyes were clenched shut, so she couldn't see what it was; whatever it was, it was hard, and it tasted of metal. She brought her hands up to remove the object._

_Then, Bonnie heard a click._

_She froze as her eyes shot wide open (well, as much as her swelling right eye would allow). She looked up to see Johnny standing in front of her, the crazed look in his eyes again; he had hold of her hair in one hand, and in the other he held the gun jammed in her mouth._

"_You little shit!" he snarled. "I ought to blow your goddamn brains out!" He pushed the gun barrel further down Bonnie's throat, causing her to gag._

"_Whoa, Johnny boy, settle down, man." Devon said calmly, placing a hand on his cohort's shoulder. "Don't do anything stupid."_

_Johnny didn't give any indication of hearing him. Sass walked up to him and gently placed her hands on his arm. "Dev's right, Johnny." she consoled. "Where's the fun in just killing her now? Why not have your way with her like you said before you do anything else. Besides, it's like you said, this is your chance to get pay back against a Rockwaller girl."_

_Her words seemed to get through to him, for his expression calmed somewhat. He took a deep breath before releasing it. He looked down at Bonnie and scowled, though it was a far cry from his earlier look. "You're one lucky bitch. You get to live… for now. But if you scream, or pull another stunt like before, you're dead. Got it?"_

_Bonnie trembled, but she managed a weak nod. Johnny then jerk the pistol from her mouth, jarring her front teeth. She clamped her hands around her mouth, trying desperately not to cry out in pain. Johnny still had a grip on her hair and he lifted her head up so she could see him as he spoke. "And I promise you this. Before this night's over, if yours isn't the sorriest piece of ass around here, it'll definitely be the sorest."_

_With that he released her hair, and gestured for Devon to pick her up. Devon nodded, and he grabbed Bonnie's arm and yanked her to her feet. He then moved himself behind her again, albeit wearily, and held her arms behind her back. He positioned her to where she was facing Johnny and Sass._

"_You sure you can do this, man?" Devon asked with a chuckle in his voice. He noticed that although he had recovered, Johnny still moved on shaky legs. "After that knee she gave you, I doubt you can get it up right now."_

"_Fuck you." Johnny snapped._

"_Well, what say we find out?" Sass spoke up, a mischievous smile on her face. Without another word, she walked towards Bonnie, sashaying her hips seductively. When she was standing right in front of the girl, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a switchblade, and with a press of the button, the blade shot out with a snap._

_Bonnie started to weakly struggle, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to break Devon's hold. She ceased as Sass grabbed her by the chin and turned her head so she was looking right at the blonde._

_Sass held up the blade a few inches from Bonnie's face as she spoke. "Behave yourself and you may live through this." With that, she released Bonnie's chin and gripped the top of her shirt; she brought the knife down and cut the fabric straight down the middle. When she finished, she pushed the halves apart to reveal the black bra the brunette was wearing. She then brought the blade under the clasp, and with a flick of the wrist, the bra was cut in half, letting Bonnie's ample breasts fall out into full view._

_Sass retracted the blade and placed it back into her pocket before casting a look over her shoulder at Johnny; the man had a knowing, lecherous smile on his face, having obviously figured out what the woman was up to. Sass smiled before returning her attention to the whimpering girl before her, where she immediately began to roughly caress her breasts._

"_Damn, now that is hot." Devon breathed as he watched from over Bonnie's shoulder. He positioned himself to where he was able to hold both of Bonnie's arms with one hand. He then reached around with his free hand and started to fondle one of the brunette's breasts, while Sass worked the other one._

_Bonnie's face was scarlet with shame and humiliation. _Oh, God! _Her mind was screaming. _This isn't happening to m— _her train of thought was interrupted as Sass grabbed her face and pulled her into a smoldering kiss. Bonnie just couldn't hold it anymore; she let the tears flow and run down her cheeks._

_After a moment, Sass broke the kiss and looked back at Johnny. "So, baby, this doing anything for you?" she purred._

"_Oh yeah," he replied. "I can definitely get it up." He reached down and easily un-did his belt, but he still had the gun in his hand, so he was fumbling with the clasp on his jeans._

"_Having trouble, Johnny boy?" Devon laughed._

"_Shut up."_

"_Be careful with the gun, Johnny." Sass chimed in with a chuckle. "You might shoot something off."_

"_Don't you start, too, Sass."_

"_Fine, while you're working on that, I'll just test the waters for you." Sass moved her hands down to Bonnie's jean shorts; she undid the clasp, pulled the zipper down, and then slowly pulled the shorts down a few inches on Bonnie's hips, revealing her panties._

This isn't happening! _Bonnie thought frantically _This is not happening to me! _Despite her thoughts of denial, the reality was that it _was _happening. She was about to be raped, maybe even killed. If she screamed for help, it was for certain that she would be killed. Under different circumstances, the next thought that crossed her mind should have really wounded her pride. But as she watched in horror as Johnny finally undid the clasp on his jeans and was pulling down his zipper, and felt Sass' fingers slip under the fabric of her panties, she really didn't care._

Where is Possible when I really need her help?

_Just then, a loud _thud _came from the back of the alley, causing everyone to freeze._

_Johnny quickly zipped up his pants as he whipped around, pointing the gun in the direction of the sound. "What the hell was that?"_

_Could Bonnie's plea have been answered? She took a chance, taking a deep breath and let loose a scream; "HEEEEELLLP!"_

_Devon slapped his hand over her mouth. "Shut up!"_

_Sass stepped back and pulled out her switchblade as Johnny searched for the source of the sound. "Who's there?" he called. He looked all around, from the back wall to the roofs of the buildings on both sides, but didn't see anything. "I said 'who's there,'?"_

_The response he got was another sound – a rapid clicking. It was followed by a high-pitched electric whir as a red beam appeared. It came to a stop in the center of Johnny's chest, ending in three dots forming a triangle. Johnny looked up from his chest and leveled the gun in the direction where the beam was coming from._

_Before he could get off a shot, a loud _boom_ echoed through the alley, like cannon-fire, and a ball of blue light shot towards the spot on his chest. A split-second after it impacted, his back burst open, covering his friends and Bonnie with a crimson spray of blood._

_Everyone watched in shock as Johnny's arms fell to his side, the gun falling from his grasp. He fell to his knees before toppling over, dead._

"_Fuck me!" Devon shouted as he pulled his hand away from Bonnie's mouth, but she made no attempt to scream again; she just stared at Johnny's body, horrified. Sass, on the other hand, did scream in fright, looking back at the corpse that was her boyfriend. Devon reached over and plucked the switchblade from her hand, earning a shout of protest from her._

_He paid her no mind as he maneuvered the blade close to Bonnie's throat and looked wildly to the back of the alley. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better back off, or this bitch is dead!" he threatened._

_There was no response, nor was there any sign of the perpetrator. Devon began to back away toward the entranceway, dragging Bonnie in front of him as a shield, and Sass was only a couple steps behind him._

_He didn't take four steps before he heard a _thud _behind him. Before he could turn, he felt something clamp onto his head with the grip of a vice. He screamed as he dropped the knife and let go of Bonnie, reaching up to pry whatever had him loose._

_As his grip on her suddenly loosened, Bonnie found herself stumbling forward. Unable to get her balance, she fell to the ground. As she pushed herself up, she came face to face with the gaping wound in Johnny's back. She quickly rolled away, until she was facing Devon again. She gaped at what she saw._

_Devon was almost three feet above the ground, his feet flailing, his hands grasping at something near his head. She then focused on the space next to him. She could barely see it, but there was a silhouette of something standing there, holding Devon by his head… something big._

_Sass saw it, too… barely, but she saw it. She then looked at Johnny's gun on the ground. She immediately made a beeline for it and scooped it up. She turned around in time to see Devon thrown through the air and into the brick wall. His head smashed into it with a sickening crunch, his blood splattering onto the wall._

_Sass watched for a second as his body crashed onto a set of trashcans, before turning and leveling the gun at the figure standing near the alley's entrance. It blurred out of sight, but Sass fired nonetheless. After four shots, she paused, looking carefully, but seeing no sign of the killer. She panted heavily as she looked about wildly, hoping to see where it was, or hoping that it was gone._

_She then heard a rattle behind her, and she spun around, aiming the gun. What she saw was a frightened Bonnie; her hand had shifted a trashcan lid while she was trying to back away along the ground. Bonnie whimpered as Sass stared at her._

"_Shut up." Sass hissed. When Bonnie didn't stop, she stomped closer and leveled the gun at her head. "Shut up or I swear to God I will shoot you!" she snapped harshly._

_Bonnie's eyes widened as she gasped. But it wasn't the threat that she reacted to._

_Sass froze when she heard that clicking sound behind her; only it was more of a growl this time. She spun around wildly, aiming the gun and squeezing the trigger; as she did, there was a blur of motion. As the shot fired, Sass watched in shock as the gun… or rather her hand holding the gun flew through the air, cut cleanly at the wrist. It bounced on the ground once before bumping against a trashcan; the lid came loose and fell on top of the hand, covering everything but the gun barrel._

_Before Sass could fill her lungs with air to scream, she felt a stabbing pain in her chest at the same time she heard a meaty _thunk_!_

_Bonnie stared as Sass was lifted off the ground. On the woman's back, her blood formed an outline of a pair of serrated blades protruding from her back._

_Sass finally screamed, but it came out a gurgled, strangled cry. Her limbs flailed; a stream of blood was shooting from her wrist, spraying the ground and wall of the building. She clutched helplessly at whatever was holding her up with her remaining hand, until after a few more seconds, she finally slumped forward._

_Bonnie watched as Sass' body twitched a few times, before going completely still. The figure then pulled the blades free, unceremoniously dumping the body onto the concrete. Bonnie looked from the body to the shadowed figure. Suddenly, what she assumed was its head turned, and she felt a tightening in her stomach; she got the dreaded feeling that it was looking straight at _her_. That feeling was confirmed when a pair of small yellow lights, in the place where its eyes would be, flashed into view for a second, and then disappeared._

_Bonnie started to back away again, her eyes never leaving the shadow. Her hand touched something wet. She looked and gasped when she saw she accidentally came into contact with the blood spilling from Devon's head wound. She saw his face, the expressionless emotion on it, and the glazed look in his dead eyes. She turned back to the figure as she continued to crawl away, until her back slapped against the wall. At that point, all Bonnie could hear was the sound of her heart beating. She was sure that it was going to kill her, too._

_The figure watched her for a few more seconds before turning to Sass's body. It lifted it up and flung it over its… shoulder? It then started walking towards her. She feebly threw her arms up in front of her to protect herself. She paused when it stopped. It bent down and grabbed Johnny's leg and then leaned over to grab Devon's leg. It straightened up and walked right past Bonnie, dragging the bodies behind it. With a growling grunt, it jumped over the back wall in a single leap, bodies in tow._

_All was quiet again, and Bonnie was alone._

XXXXXXX

Bonnie tightened her grip on Kim's hand. Her whole body was shaking, and though she fought tooth and nail, she couldn't keep the tears from falling.

Kim watched in almost total shock as Bonnie started to lose control, right in front of her. Bonnie had only told her about what happened to her attackers, but apparently, her mind had replayed the whole horrifying experience.

Before she knew what she was doing, she gently took the brunette into her arms. Bonnie went stiff as a board for a moment, before she went slack. A minute later, she clung to Kim as she finally gave in, and started to cry openly.

Ron felt a lump form in his throat as he watched the scene. This wasn't anything like how Bonnie acted when Brick broke up with her and she needed a new boyfriend. This was worse; this was Bonnie at her most vulnerable.

_Poor Bonnie_, he thought. Rufus, who seemed to sense his owner's thoughts, let out a sad squeak.

Monique just shook her head sadly. Like Kim, she wanted to see Bonnie knocked down a peg or two every once in awhile, but this is _not_ what she had in mind.

Kim continued to hold Bonnie as she cried, gently stroking her hair, careful to avoid touching the bump on her head, and whispering words of comfort. After a few minutes, Bonnie's crying diminished to an occasional sob. The brunette pulled away from the concerned redhead and wiped her eyes, being careful with her right.

"It's okay, Bonnie." Kim said, gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "You're safe now." A moment later, she pulled her hand away as she straightened. "We're gonna go now, so you can get some rest."

Bonnie didn't respond, but nodded. Kim turned to leave, and then stopped and turned back to her. "Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into her pocket and pull out a set of keys. "I brought your car from the coffee shop. It's in the parking lot."

Bonnie's eyes widened before narrowing a bit. "You drove my car?" she asked, her voice rising in tone.

Kim allowed herself a small smile. That was a little of the Bonnie she knew. "Yeah," she answered. "The tow truck driver owed me a favor, so he let me take it. Besides, with what you've been through, I'm sure you didn't want to go through the hassle of getting it back."

"You drove _my_ car?" Bonnie repeated.

"Don't worry, Bonnie, your car is scratch-free." Kim assured her as she set the keys on the table next to the bed. She then pointed to the book bag in the chair. "Oh, I also brought your schoolwork."

Bonnie blinked as she looked at the bag and then back at Kim. "What?"

"I figured you'd want to avoid spending the rest of your summer with Mister Barkin, having to retake the course." Kim explained with a playful grin. "Once you're released, you can take it over to him."

Bonnie just stared at her in utter bewilderment. She couldn't understand why Kim was doing all this for her. The alley she could understand, but the car and the schoolwork? Why would she do all this for a person who has treated her so badly?

Kim could sense what she was thinking from the look on her face. She smiled gently and answered the girl's unasked questions; "I told you, Bonnie, that's just how I am."

Bonnie fell silent and looked straight ahead. When it looked as though she wasn't going to say anything else, Kim turned to her friends. "Come on, guys." With that, they made their way to the door. As Ron's hand touched the doorknob, Bonnie's voice called out.

"Wait."

The three turned back to see Bonnie looking at them intently. "What it is, Bonnie?" Kim asked.

"Everything you saw here…" the brunette trailed off.

Kim knew what she meant. "You're secret's safe," she promised. Ron, Rufus, and Monique give affirmative nods.

Bonnie nodded back, satisfied with this. She opened her mouth, only to close it again in hesitation. Finally, taking a deep breath she was able to get out the last words she ever expected to say to Kim and her friends; "T-thank you."

Kim and the others just stood there, gaping in complete shock. One thought passed through their minds simultaneously.

_Did Bonnie just say "thank you?"_

Suddenly, they were brought out of their daze as the door to the room was suddenly thrown open. Ron, being right in front of the door as it was opening, was knocked to the ground. As he cried out in pain, Kim turned to the figure bursting into the room; her eyes widened and she instinctively tensed when she saw who it was.

"Junior?" she exclaimed.

"Kim Possible?" the young billionaire returned, looking equally shocked to see her there. But she was quickly forgotten when he spotted Bonnie. "My love!" he gasped, running to her side and taking her into his embrace, albeit gently.

"Junior," Bonnie said as she returned the hug, surprised, but happy to see him.

"When I heard that you were in the hospital, I got here as fast as one of my father's villainous black choppers would allow." he explained as he cradled her.

"Oh, Junior," Bonnie whispered. They then pulled apart to look at each other. Bonnie blushed and turned her head away, embarrassed by her current appearance. "I must look terrible."

"You are speaking nonsense, beloved." Junior said, using his hand to gently turn her head back to him. "You are still beautiful to me." he assured her with a warm smile.

Bonnie returned the smile. "You are so sweet." she said. They then moved closer until their lips met.

Kim, having gotten over her initial shock, took that as their cue to leave. She turned to Monique and gestured toward the door. Her friend nodded; they both helped a disheveled Ron back to his feet and quietly made their exit.

As they entered the hallway and closed the door behind them, they soon spotted the paternal member of the villainous duo standing a few feet away.

"Señor Senior, Senior," Kim greeted evenly.

"Kim Possible," he returned politely. He then turned to Ron and Monique. "Ron Stoppable, and… I'm sorry, young lady. I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Monique, Señor," she said politely, albeit cautiously, as she remembered that this was one of Kim's foes.

Senior looked at her carefully. He then smiled in recognition. "Ah, yes, I remember now. I saw you in Paris with Kim Possible's young genius helper, during the love ray incident."

Monique shuddered at the memory. "You had to bring _that_ up." she muttered.

"How did you find out about Bonnie, Senior?" Kim questioned.

"Ah, direct and to the point, as always, Kim Possible," he said admiringly. "Your boy genius contacted us at our home and informed us of the incident. Needless to say, my son was quite eager to arrive here."

Surprised, Kim activated her Kimmunicator. "Wade?" she said as he appeared on the screen. "You called the Seniors?"

"Oh, yeah. Forgot to tell you." he replied, suddenly looking uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his neck as he tried to explain. "I contacted Bonnie's parents, but they're out of town and won't get back until tomorrow, and I couldn't even reach her sisters. I figured since she and Junior became an item…"

"It's all right, Wade." Kim assured him; then grinned as she added, "Just give a little heads up the next time you contact a villain, okay?"

Wade let out a sigh, obviously relieved. "You got it," he replied before the screen went black.

"What of the ruffians who attacked Miss Rockwaller?" Senior inquired; his tone had a slight edge to it that wasn't there before. "Have they been apprehended?"

"You could say that." Kim replied evenly.

Over the next few minutes, she told Senior of the fate of the three muggers. Monique blanched when she heard that they had been skinned; Ron and Rufus were a bit more composed this time around, but they still looked uncomfortable. Senior's expression was neutral as he listened; the only reaction from him was an occasional nod, or a raised eyebrow.

About the time Kim finished, Dr. Possible had returned from her rounds. She recognized the elder and firmly stated that there was to be no fighting in the hospital. Senior assured her that he and his son were only here to see Bonnie. At that point, Ann entered the room and told Junior that it was time to leave and let the girl rest. He was reluctant, but he eventually agreed following the doctor out of the room; he was sure to give Bonnie a farewell kiss before leaving.

Ann then told the Seniors the extent of Bonnie's injuries, assuring that she would be okay, and said that she would be released in a couple days. At that point, Senior asked her to send him the bill, as he would take care of it. Finally, the father and son left the hospital.

A couple minutes later, Kim told her mom that they were going to leave, too. They said their good-byes, got into Kim's car and left; Monique was dropped off first at her home, and then Ron and Rufus next at theirs.

Finally, Kim pulled into the driveway of her home, which was still undergoing reconstruction. Thankfully, due to her involvement in saving the world for the Lorwardian attack, the government provided them with a mobile home until the house was rebuilt.

Kim entered the mobile home and went directly to her "room", changed into her pajamas, and got into bed. However, given what she witnessed tonight, she wondered if she'd be able to sleep at all.

_To be continued…_

_Next time: A mission goes horribly wrong._


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Kim Possible © Disney, Predator © 20th Century Fox.

Thanks to angel0wonder, Guns Knifes and Napalm, Dark Degenerate, Wanderer3, Jacob and TD Master for their reviews.

And, of course, I thank my beta readers, Tomboy 601 and Mace Ecam.

****Bold text represents the Predator's P.O.V.****

* * *

**Chapter 3**

The next morning, Kim contacted Wade and relayed to him what Bonnie had told her last night; he then gathered all the necessary information and passed it along to her. After reviewing the info and talking with Wade for a bit, Kim made a quick call to her dad and her brothers, who were currently living in Nevada. The government had recruited Dr. Possible, the Tweebs, and some of the country's other top scientists to study the salvaged Lorwardian technology, and then design and build a defense system that would be able to counter another invasion attempt.

After visiting with her father for a few minutes, Kim ended the call and left for Club Banana. After getting clocked in, she returned to the front of the store, where she spotted Monique placing some shirts on a shelf. "Morning, Monique."

"Morning, girl." Monique returned as she joined her friend behind the counter. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Fine, until Ron called me at 3:10 in the morning."

Monique smirked and shook her head. "Let me guess. The synthodrone dream again?"

"No, this time he asked me if I still had my skin." The smirk on Monique's face disappeared, replaced by a frown, as Kim continued; "So, I spent the next fifteen minutes reassuring him that I was all right before he finally let it go, and then I went back to sleep."

"And that's it? No nightmares or anything?"

"Not really."

Monique shook her head in amazement. "You know, I only _heard_ about the bodies and I woke up a couple times in the night. You saw the carnage up close, and you're telling me the only thing that woke you up was Ron?"

"Well, I did have a little trouble getting to sleep at first," Kim admitted. "But after I thought about, it wasn't any different than the muscle anatomy diagrams they had in Health class… just bloodier." she added.

"You're handling this awfully well." Monique commented.

"So not the drama, Monique." Kim replied with a shrug. "After all, I deal with this stuff all the time."

"Actually, you don't, Kim." Monique gently corrected, earning a confused looked from the redhead. "You deal with mutants, henchmen, mad scientists, and a woman who can shoot green bolts of destruction. But as far as I know, you've never really dealt with murder before."

After a moment of thought, Kim realized her friend was right. She had gone on dangerous and life-threatening missions before, but none of them had actually involved death.

Both of them fell silent for a few minutes. Finally, Monique cleared her throat. "So, uh, you find out anything more about last night?"

"I got Wade to pull up the files on the three thugs." Kim answered. "Basic rundown; Johnny Thompson, Sass Evans and Devon Adams, all age 27. As they told Bonnie, they attended Middleton High around the same time as her sisters. After they got out, they attended a local community college for a couple years before dropping out. They each had criminal records, but it was small time stuff; robbing convenient stores, boosting car stereos, and a few muggings, though nothing as severe as what they did to Bonnie."

Monique just nodded absently, thinking about what she just learned. "Any idea of who killed them."

"According to what Bonnie told us," Kim began, "whoever did it was big, maybe around seven to eight feet, and strong enough to throw Devon into that wall with enough force to crush his skull _and_ carry all three bodies away. And they must've been very skilled with a blade, considering how quick and precise the bodies were skinned.

"I'm having Wade run a search on their victims and everyone affiliated with them; anyone who might hold a grudge." she continued. "I'm also having him look into anyone who would have access to stealth tech, advanced weaponry and gene splicing."

"Gene splicing?" Monique asked.

"Bonnie said she heard 'it' growl." Kim reminded her. "I'm betting that whoever did this may not be completely human."

Just then, there was a ring, indicating a customer had entered the store. Both girls put on smiles and greeted the customer, putting aside the mystery killer business for now. Until Wade found something, all they could do was wait.

XXXXXXX

**[24 hours later]**

**He was perched on the edge of a building, growling in agitation. It was all he could do to keep from roaring out loud** **in rage.**

**Over an entire day had passed on this planet, and he only had three, barely decent trophies to show for it.**

**And to think this was all happening because of… a malfunction!**

**Yautja technology was one of the most advanced in the universe. It was extremely rare for problems to ever occur. There were occasional glitches with weapons now and again, but never malfunctions with their ships. In fact, there had only been two in his lifetime, and they had involved the small, single hunter shuttles.**

**The first was several hundred years ago; a Warrior, like himself, was hunting on another world. According to data that was streamed back to their homeworld, his pod suffered minor damage which resulted in a tiny fracture, but it did not seem serious – turned out to be fatal. Upon returning home and entering the atmosphere, the intense heat penetrated the fracture and fried the circuits, resulting in the pod exploding, and the Warrior was vaporized.**

**The second happened a couple hundred years later. A Young Blood was preparing to go on his first solo hunt. After launching, his ship flew ten meters before the rockets suddenly cut off, sending the shuttle crashing to the ground. The Young Blood was uninjured, but it was completely humiliating for him.**

**Since then, the Yautja have made modifications and improvements to the ships, and there had not been any further occurrences.**

**So you could imagine his shock that when he was just outside of Earth's atmosphere, the alarms went off; there had been a sudden glitch in the navigation system, and his shuttle had been thrown off course from its original destination. Instead of landing in a large, heavily populated and violence-filled city, as he had planned, he ended up **_**here**_** – a small, average populated city, its tallest buildings barely bigger than the trees of this planet's jungles.**

**Unfortunately, he could not simply get back into his ship and fly to a new destination, much to his frustration. Unlike the larger transports, the single shuttles had limits, basic programming. They were programmed to fly to a set destination, and then fly back to the home world. They could not be reprogrammed to fly somewhere else.**

**Despite the annoyance, he decided to make the most of the situation and explore the city; perhaps he would find some Oomans that would make worthy trophies.**

**But that was not the case.**

**After just a little more than an hour, he had searched the entire city, and he came up empty. None of the Oomans he came across looked like they could even defend themselves, much less provide much sport. Until, finally, he came across three Oomans, two males and a female, attacking a younger female, and then threatening her with a projectile weapon.**

**Both of the males, who had strong builds, were disposed of quickly, not putting up much of a fight; he had intended to leave the older female be, as it was part of his race's code of honor not to kill those who were considered weak and unable to defend themselves. That rule changed the moment she shot at him with that weapon, and her fate was the same as the other two.**

**He shouldn't have bothered to take their skins, though; they had not been worth the effort. But with over an entire day gone, and no other prey that he could find, the skins were all he had. But bringing back such pathetic trophies would only add shame to his current predicament.**

**He was well-known on his world. In his youth, when he took the Trial to become a Young Blood, he not only killed several Hive Drones, but he also managed to kill the Hive Queen as well, and that was no easy feat; it always filled him with pride and satisfaction to walk into his trophy room and see the Queen's skull mounted on his wall. Since then, he had many successful hunts, and in record time, he became Warrior class.**

**However, his well-earned reputation would be damaged because of this; a highly skilled, barely middle-aged Warrior, still in his prime, returning from a less than satisfactory hunt, with only a few feeble kills to show for it. He bristled at the thought of some of the hunters who would no doubt give him grief and mock him.**

**Of course, any who did so openly would quickly have **_**their**_** skulls mounted in his trophy room.**

**He had earlier considered just activating his wrist bomb and blowing himself up, but he quickly dismissed that idea. If he was going to die, it was going to be in battle with formidable prey. But he was not going home yet, not until he had a satisfying hunt. He would trek all the way to another area on foot if he had to, but he would find some better trophies.**

**Just then, his helmet's sensors picked up a faint sound, a sound that was steadily growing louder. He looked all around him, but saw no sign of the source. His head then shot up in time to see a large Ooman transport passing over. But this was unlike the ones he was used to seeing; this one was circular in shape, propelled by three thrusters in the back. His helmet's vision flashed, zooming in, and he saw that there were several Ooman males standing upon it.**

**As he watched it fly by, he saw that the craft was slowly descending. He clicked his mandibles with interest. **

**Perhaps the Hunt was afoot.**

XXXXXXX

Kim sat down with her friends at a table in the food court, heaving a sigh.

"Still no news on the mystery skinner?" Monique asked.

Kim shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense." she said.

"Don't stress, KP." Ron said. "Wade will come through for us."

"Yeah!" Rufus squeaked in agreement.

"And it's only been a day." Monique pointed out. "Even Wade needs an extra day or two to come up with something."

"Guys, Wade finished his search yesterday."

Eyebrows rose as Monique and Ron shared surprised looks, before turning back to the redhead.

"He came up with nothing?" Ron asked incredulously.

"No." Kim answered. "All of the victims or those affiliated with them either had alibis or weren't even anywhere near Middleton. And none of them even fit the profile of the killer. I even had Wade run a search on all known serial killers and murderers, but still nothing."

"What about that tech and stuff you mentioned?" Monique asked.

"Nothing's been stolen or downloaded, and there hasn't been any recent experimenting with gene splicing."

"Could someone have hired an assassin or something?"

"I had Wade look into that, too, but it costs some serious bank to hire a professional. And everyone Wade ran background checks on either makes a standard salary or isn't working. No one could afford to hire a professional."

"Hey, how about the Seniors?" Ron guessed. "They've got _mucho_ serious Claude."

"Cha-ching!" Rufus chattered.

"They do have the cash, but remember, Ron, those three were already killed before Wade told the Seniors about it." Kim reminded him.

"Oh, right."

Monique suddenly snapped her fingers. "Hey, what about that Gill guy Ron met at camp, the one that became a mutant?"

"Still locked up in Dr. Lurkin's lab." Kim answered.

"And if he's got revenge issues with anybody, it's with me." Ron pointed out.

"Besides, villains usually commit crimes, not try and prevent them." Kim added.

"What if it was something created by that DNAmy woman and she couldn't control it?" Monique said.

"Yeah, like that dino-thing that rampaged through Middleton a couple years ago!" Ron remembered. Rufus leapt onto the table and held up his claws in menacing way, growling and snarling.

"Wade checked on her, too; she's been inactive since the Lorwardian invasion." Kim told them.

"Okay, I got nothin'." Ron mumbled, while Rufus dropped his arms and moaned in defeat.

Kim let out a frustrated growl as she rested her head in her hands. Monique reached over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Look, Kim, there's no sense in getting worked up over this." she said. "Unless something comes up, you might as well just chillax and do something to take your mind off things. What's say we go on a shopping spree after work?"

"Yeah, and after that, how about you let me take you to _Chez Couteaux_ for a romantic dinner?" Ron suggested with a smile, then adding, "No coupons involved?"

A smile crossed Kim's lips. After a moment, she spoke. "You guys are right. There's no sense in dwelling on this until I hear something. Shopping and dinner sounds-"

_Beep-beep-be-beep_!

"Hold that thought." she said, before activating the Kimmunicator. "Sitch me, Wade."

"Still nothing on the mystery killer." he replied regretfully, before continuing, "But Professor Dementor and his henchman have been spotted breaking into the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology."

"We're on it." Kim sighed as the screen went dark, and then looked at her boyfriend. "Well, Ron, you know what this means."

"Yeah." he grumbled. "Our villain-free vacation is over."

"Ohh." Rufus groaned.

XXXXXXX

**The hunter's mandibles clicked rapidly with anticipation.**

**He had followed after the vessel, and he watched as it came to a large building complex and blasted a hole in one of its walls, completely disintegrating it. Pretty advanced weaponry by Ooman standards; advanced, but still primitive to Yautja weaponry. After the craft landed and the Oomans disembarked, he slipped in through the hole, and made his way to a higher perch to observe everything.**

**There were thirteen adult Ooman males; twelve of them had strong builds, excellent bone structures, and each was carrying a staff-type weapon with circuitry running through it. Several of the Oomans were moving about the room grabbing objects of various sizes, and the rest stood at the base of the craft.**

**He then turned his attention to the thirteenth male, who was standing on top of the craft. At first glance, he thought it was a child, but after a quick scan, he realized it was an adult – a very short adult. Based on his position and posture, he gathered that was the leader of this group… and that surprised him a little.**

**He quickly shook it off and resumed his vigil, waiting for the time to strike.**

XXXXXXX

Professor Dementor smiled as he watched his henchmen gather the needed equipment and load it onto the hovercraft. This was the first plot he attempted since the alien invasion, and things were going very well; especially with his annoying brother-in-law, Myron, back at the strudel works.

"Excellent." he chuckled. "With these components, I shall build my most powerful weapon yet, and I, Professor Dementor, will BEND THE WORLD TO MY WILL! And there will be NO ONE to stop me!"

"Don't bet on it, Dementor!"

The evil mastermind turned to the sound of the voice in time to see a familiar redheaded teenager swing in through the hole on a grapple line. He jumped out of the way as she swung by. She then let go of the line, somersaulted and drop-kicked one of his henchman in the chest, driving him to the ground.

"KIM POSSIBLE!" Dementor shouted as she turned to face him.

Just then, there was a scream from behind, and he turned to see her blond sidekick swing in through the hole; only he was tied up in his own grapple line, so he just swung back and forth, like a pendulum on a string, suspended upside down.

"And the sidekick you are improbably dating." Dementor finished dryly with an amused grin.

"Why is so hard for you to believe that we're dating?" Ron questioned as he struggled to get loose.

Dementor ignored him and turned back to address Kim. "I am impressed, Fraulein Possible, you arrived sooner than I anticipated. But NO MATTER; while you were enjoying your little vacation time, my henchmen have been training hard for this encounter!"

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Kim shot back confidently as she fell into a fighting stance.

"Yes, we shall. You men," he said, pointing to the six henchmen carrying the equipment, "continue loading the cargo." He then pointed to the remaining six standing at the ready. "The rest of you, GET HER!"

The henchmen activated their shock prods, blue energy enveloping the tips, and they charged towards the redhead. But Kim stood her ground, unwavering. She sidestepped the first one and hit him in the back with a spin kick, which sent him sprawling.

She then ducked under the second's swing and threw a hard punch to his abdomen. As he doubled over, Kim rolled over his back and landed a kick to another henchman's chest as he was approaching, making him collide with a fourth. She then quickly dropped to the ground and swept her leg across the floor, knocking the doubled over guy off his feet.

The last two men were coming at her from both sides, but Kim remained where she was. At the last second, when both were in range, she jumped up into the air and did a perfect split-kick, catching them both in the face.

As she touched down again and the two fell to the ground, stunned, Kim caught movement in the corner of her eye. She turned to see the first henchman had recovered and was now charging her again, and some of the others were getting to their feet, too.

She clenched her fists and met him head on.

XXXXXXX

**The hunter was taken aback by what he was seeing.**

**This small Ooman female was fighting six strong, armed Ooman males all at once, alone and **_**unarmed**_**. And the males have yet to land a single hit on her. Such a thing was unheard of when it came to the females; yet here it was, unfolding in front of his eyes.**

**Based on her size, she was a teenager, or at most, a very young adult. But based on the scan he ran on her, her build appeared stronger than an average Ooman female's, and her bone structure was denser, indicating she has had training at an early age. And he had to admit, the skills she was displaying in hand-to-hand combat were impressive.**

**He then turned the male who was hanging upside down, comically trying to get loose from the rope he was tangled up in. After a few seconds, he quickly dismissed the Ooman as an unworthy trophy and turned his attention back to the fight.**

XXXXXXX

Ron groaned in frustration, being unable to get untangled. _Man, if it's not a problem with my pants, it's always something else!_ His mind exclaimed. "A little help here, Rufus!" he called. The naked mole rat poked his head out of the pocket, and after quickly identifying the problem, climbed up the rope just above Ron's feet and quickly started gnawing through it with his teeth.

"That's the way, buddy!" Ron encouraged. Just as Rufus was down to the last few threads, the boy was hit with a sudden epiphany. "No, wait!"

His protest came too late. The threads snapped under their weight, and they found themselves suddenly falling. The drop was short, ending with Ron slamming against the hovercraft, bouncing off and landing face first onto the unforgiving floor.

"Ohh… that hurt." Ron groaned. Rufus, who dizzily stayed latched to his owner's pant leg, let out a groaned squeak of agreement.

Professor Dementor, having witnessed the whole thing, shook his head. "And you wonder why I am doubting your dating Kim Possible." he said flatly.

Ron quickly got to his feet, untangling from the grapple line and tossing it aside, and glared up at Dementor. "Well, I can clear up those doubts right now, Dementor; I'll use my mad fu skills to convince you." He then jumped into a few exaggerated monkey style poses, whooping as he did. On the ground next to him, Rufus mimicked his moves.

"How very amusing." Dementor chuckled in his throat. He then bent down behind the crafts control panel, speaking as he did. "Let us see how your 'mad fu skills' stand up to the N.I.B.D."

"N.I.B.D.?" Ron parroted.

When Dementor stood upright, he held in his hands a rather large laser weapon, which looked more like a high-tech, pump-action shotgun. This was further emphasized when he pulled the forearm handle back with a click. As he slid it back to its original place, there was a high-pitched whir, indicating the weapon was powering up.

The mad scientist then leveled it at Ron as he shouted, "the NEW AND IMPROVED BLASTER DEVICE!"

"Oh, I see." Ron nodded in understanding, oblivious to the danger, and to Rufus, who squeaked in alarm and climbed back into his pocket. "But wait, wouldn't that make it the N._A_.I.B.D., then? 'Cause, see, you've got the 'and' in there—"

Ron's explanation was cut off as Dementor pulled the trigger, firing a red energy bolt at him. He managed to jump back just as the bolt struck the ground where he had been standing. He looked at the still glowing sphere, and to his surprise, he noticed it was quickly growing bigger. When it reached a foot and a half in diameter, it clicked in his mind that something bad was about to happen.

He turned on his heel and ran, but barely after taking three steps, the energy sphere, which had reached a little over two feet, exploded. The resulting shockwave threw Ron off his feet; he flew through the air at least six meters, then he hit the ground, tumbling like a ball, and ended up slamming head first into the wall. He laid there, a pained groan escaping his lips before his head lolled to the side, and then he was out cold.

Meanwhile, Kim was in the middle of judo throwing a henchman into his cohorts when she heard the shot. At the same time the goons hit the ground, she heard the explosion. She whipped around and her eyes widened as she watched her boyfriend fly across the room and crash into the wall.

"Ron!" she screamed. She watched for a second as he went still, and then her eyes narrowed as she turned to the laughing mad scientist responsible. She charged towards him.

This didn't go unnoticed by Dementor; he turned towards her, aiming the rifle, and fired a barrage of shots. Kim avoided the blasts with side movements and forward flips, still going at full speed.

Finally he shot one energy bolt a few feet right in front of her. As it grew in size, rather than stopping or moving to the side, Kim continued forward, and then she jumped over it. Before she completely cleared it, the sphere exploded, propelling her into the air.

Dementor smiled, thinking he had her. The smile quickly fell when she curled herself into a ball, speeding up her rotation. His eyes widened when he saw that she was coming straight at him. He lifted his weapon, but he was too late. Kim uncurled with a front kick that struck him in the chest, and he was knocked back against the hovercraft's console; the rifle slipped from his grip, and as it hit the craft's surface, it went off, shooting the bolt off to the side.

The mad scientist shook his head to clear it. Two seconds later, his eyes shot open as he was hoisted up off the floor and was now face-to-face with an irate redhead, who had him by the scruff of his uniform.

"It's over, Dementor." Kim said resolutely, her fern-green eyes burning with anger. "Surrender and I _might_ go easy on you."

Dementor gritted his teeth in frustration, but before he could give his answer or a retort, both were alerted by a series of high-pitched squeaks. Both turned their heads to see Rufus, frantically tugging on an unconscious Ron's hand. All the while, chunks of debris were falling all around them. That last shot from the rifle had impacted against the roof above them, and the explosion caused the roof to crack and crumble.

Despite his efforts to pull his owner out of danger, the naked mole rat was nowhere near strong enough. As the seconds passed by, more chunks fell from the ceiling, which looked about ready to give way.

Kim turned back as she heard Professor Dementor chuckle. "So, Kim Possible, what will it be?" he asked, a smug grin on his face. "Stop me, or save your so-called boyfriend?"

She glared at him for a few more seconds before finally letting him go and making a beeline for Ron and Rufus. Dementor looked to his henchmen; the six that fought the girl had recovered and were on their feet again, and the other six had just finished loading all of the equipment. "COME, MY LOYAL HENCMEN!" he commanded. The henchmen wasted no time following their leader's orders, and soon, they were all aboard as Dementor got behind the controls, and within seconds, the hovercraft was lifting off the ground.

By this time, Kim reached Ron and Rufus. She lifted her boyfriend into her arms as the mole rat climbed onto her shoulder. With Ron secured, she lifted her right arm and activated the Kimmunicator's grappler. As the hook shot out and imbedded into the far wall, the ceiling finally gave under the pressure and came crashing down.

Kim quickly retracted the grapple line, pulling her and her friends out of the way, the debris just missing them. She touched down on the ground again, taking care not to jostle Ron too much, concerned that he might have a concussion. After gently laying him down onto the ground, Rufus hopping off her shoulder, she turned to see Dementor's transport airborne and flying away. As much as she wanted to follow after it, she had to make sure Ron was okay. With a frustrated sigh, she turned back to her prone boyfriend, looking him over for injuries.

Neither her, nor Rufus, noticed the cloaked figure that slipped out through the hole in the wall.

XXXXXXX

**[Later]**

Immediately after the hovercraft set down in the landing bay and powered down, the henchmen disembarked and began to unload the equipment. As they did, Professor Dementor watched with a triumphant smile; not only did he and his men acquire all of the needed parts, but they also managed to give Kim Possible the slip. All was left was prepare a trap for the meddlesome teenager and her sidekick.

Victory was all but assured.

Suddenly, Dementor was brought out of his reverie by a loud crash. He turned to see a henchman near the craft, collapsing onto the ground. There was a shattered box a few feet away from him, its contents spilt onto the floor.

"YOU!" Dementor shouted at the man. "That is very delicate equipment! And there is no LYING DOWN ON THE JOB!" The henchman gave no indication of hearing him. The mad scientist muttered a curse under his breath as he angrily stomped towards him; some of the other henchmen also approached. Dementor grabbed the man's shoulder and pulled him onto his back, yelling as he did, "I did not call for a fifteen minute break! You-" He fell silent.

The top front of the henchman's gray uniform was stained dark red. The source was a steady trail of blood flowing from a laceration across the man's throat. He was dead.

Dementor exclaimed as he jumped back, and the henchmen closest quickly set the materials they were carrying down and grabbed their weapons, carefully scanning the dimly lit hangar. The rest soon followed their actions.

Suddenly, the group heard a muffled pop, a series of swooshes, and then several thunks, some soft, others hard. They turned to find the source and came upon a henchman, his back to them. Imbedded in the ground around him were several long, sharp barbs. The henchman dropped his shock prod, and a second later he fell onto his back. There were more of those barbs piercing all over his body; a couple of them were imbedded in his neck, while one found its mark in the center of his eye shield.

"What is HAPPENING?" Dementor shouted as he gawked at the body made pin cushion. Had Kim Possible found them already? He quickly shook his head to clear the thought. The young heroine would not do something like this. But then who…

His thoughts were cut off by a strangled grunt. He turned to see another one of his henchmen levitating nearly three feet off the ground. He was gagging and grasping at the air in front of him. Then, there was a slow, audible crunch, and his arms fell to his sides and his body went still.

As the dead weight fell back to the floor, Dementor squinted, swearing that he could see the shadowy form of something standing over the body. After a few seconds this became moot, because the figure suddenly materialized out of thin air. Dementor stared at the large intruder for a moment; based on the muscular physique, he surmised that it was a man, but he couldn't make out any details due to the low lighting. Finally, he shook his head and looked at his nine remaining men. "What are you waiting for? ATTACK!" he commanded.

They all barreled towards the intruder, who calmly stood his ground. A red beam appeared from the right side of his head and targeted the closest henchman. A blue ball of energy then shot from his left shoulder with a bang, striking the man in the chest; the impact in combination with his momentum sent him into an uncontrolled flip, before he crashed into the ground.

The next henchman got in range of the intruder, his shock prod raised over his head. As he brought it down, the figure's left arm shot out, catching the weapon and halting the attack. At the same time, he curled his right hand into a fist, and a twin pair of serrated blades extended from the wrist. With a growling grunt, he swung in upward arch, carving to long gashes into the henchman's torso; he fell to the ground, blood spraying from the wounds like fountains.

The blades retracted as the figure brought the arm down and around to backfist another man in the face; the force of the blow twisted his head all the way around with an audible snap, until it was practically facing the other way.

As the body fell, a fourth one gave a battle cry as he swung his weapon. The figure stepped back to avoid it. After ducking a second swing, he stood and delivered a kick to the man's stomach, sending him flying across the room and slamming into the wall with a sickening _thud_.

Even as the remaining men charged, the figure touched his left arm, and just as suddenly as he appeared, he just as suddenly disappeared. The henchmen skidded to a halt and began scanning the room. The henchman that was kicked shakily got to his feet, coughing up some blood.

By this time, Dementor had retrieved the N.I.B.D. and was also looking throughout the room warily. For awhile, everything was quiet, and Dementor began to think that the intruder was gone.

That hope was quickly dashed along with the silence as a _pop-hiss_ filled the room, followed by a whoosh, and another henchman flew across the room before slamming into the same wall as the previous. He was pinned against the wall by a large net. He struggled to break free, but the net's stakes screwed tighter into the wall, tightening the net around him.

The kicked henchman limped over to him. He grabbed the net and pulled. He then pulled away with a grunt of pain. He looked at his hands; the palms and fingers of the gloves had several cuts in them. The net was made of some kind of metal mesh. He looked on helpless as the net tightened around his comrade, the fibers digging into the skin of his face, drawing blood.

Just then, a loud roar caused the man to turn. He looked up in time to see the lumbering figure fall from above holding what looked like a spear over his head. He brought it down as he landed, driving it through the henchman's chest. The spear tip punctured the ground pinning the screaming man to the floor.

Two more guys charged. The intruder let go of the spear and charged, too. He seized the first henchman by the face, effortlessly lifting him off the floor. As the second got closer, the shoulder weapon from before appeared and decapitated the man with a single blast. As the body collapsed, he regarded the struggling henchman in his grasp, who was desperately gripping his muscled forearm. With a growl he slammed the man's head into the ground with enough force to put sizeable cracks into the concrete. The man's arms went limp, and a small puddle of blood began to form under his head, slowly filling the cracks.

Dementor had long since targeted the figure with his rifle, but could not pull the trigger. He was too gripped by shock at the carnage he was witnessing. This intruder was very strong, highly skilled, and ruthless; he had reduced his men to less than half in barely five minutes.

He could only watch as the intruder walked over to the speared henchman, who by now was dead, grabbed the spear in one hand, placed one foot on the corpse, and wrenched the weapon free. Behind him, the netted henchman was writhing and screaming as the net continued to cut him. Without looking, the figure lifted his spear and thrust it back behind him. The screaming ceased.

Dementor swallowed the lump in his throat. He looked towards the entrance to the lab, back to the intruder, and finally to his two remaining henchmen. "Well," he cleared his throat, and after a pause, said quickly, "Good luck to the both of you, Auf Weidersehen!"

The two men watch slack-jawed as their boss bolted for the doors and exited the room. They then looked at each other, and then looked at the figure, who growled deep in his throat.

XXXXXXX

Dementor ran down the corridor as fast as his short legs could carry him. Finally, he reached the center lab of the lair. Not stopping to catch his breath, he immediately ran over to the rooms control console and started keying in the necessary codes.

He jumped with a start at the loud scream that came from the corridor, and he knew that he just lost another henchman. He nervously typed in the last few commands needed. He just finished when he heard frantic panting drawing closer. He looked up in time to see his last henchman exit the corridor, small splatters of blood over his uniform. He took four steps into the lab before he was struck in the back by a blue energy bolt, and his torso burst open with a large spray of crimson.

Dementor watched as the guy fell to the floor, dead, and then he heard the sounds of heavy footfalls growing louder. The intruder stepped into view, looked at him, and then suddenly vanished again, his eyes flashing yellow before going out.

The mad scientist quickly pressed a button and out of the walls slid eight mechanical arms holding laser cannons. Immediately, the cannons swiveled and targeted a point near the center of the room and fired; some of the beams just hit the ground, but others managed to hit the invisible form of the intruder, eliciting pained growls and roars.

Regaining some of his lost bravado, Professor Dementor began to laugh triumphantly. "_I_ may not be able to find you, but my motion sensitive lasers CAN!" he crowed.

The lasers continued to fire, tracking the target throughout the room. Finally, as one beam struck, tiny sparks of electricity began to dance along the figure's massive form, until finally, he was materializing again. Even before the sparks dissipated and he was fully visible, Dementor leveled the N.I.B.D. and fired a bolt right at him. Due the lasers still firing, the intruder didn't see it in time to do avoid it, so it struck him in the torso. The bolt expanded, and then exploded, sending him flying across the room as he roared in agony.

Instead of crashing into a boneless heap, the figure curled into a roll, softening the impact, was quickly was back on his feet, much to Dementor's chagrin. But on the upside, the intruder was now sporting a good sized wound, bleeding heavily. At least, he thought it was blood; the liquid coming from the wound was _green_, and _glowing_.

Just then, even getting continually blasted by the cannons, the intruder quickly reached behind his back with both hands, and just as quickly, he threw his arms out in a wide arch. Dementor barely caught sight of them, but he saw two objects fly from the intruder's hands and they were heading toward the lasers on both walls. He looked to the right as the blurred object reached the first cannon. In a shower of sparks, the cannon's barrel fell off, cut completely through; a second later, the remains of the weapon exploded.

The second cannon met with the same fate, as did the third, and the fourth. Dementor quickly looked to the left and saw the same thing was happening to the other cannons. Before he knew it, all of his lasers had been destroyed. The unidentified flying objects swept around the room and flew back to the owner, who deftly caught one in each hand; now that they were still, Dementor saw that both had several curved blades attach to them.

Suddenly, the intruder was cloaked again, as were the weapons; even his wound disappeared. Dementor quickly fired another shot at that spot. It struck and exploded, but there was no roar of pain this time. He stood there, watching as the dust settled, and saw only a deep gouge in the floor.

Suddenly, there was a _clank_ to his right, he swung around and fired.

A few seconds later, there was rapid clicking behind him.

_Bang!_

A deep growl came from the right.

_Bang!_

This continued for the next couple minutes, Dementor firing at the slightest sounds. Sometimes he just fired at random, hoping to get lucky.

And then, he paused. Everything was still; not a sound. Dementor panted heavily, frantically looking around, aiming the rifle wildly in every direction.

"Where are you?" he whispered.

There was no response.

"Where are you?" he snapped in a louder voice.

Only silence answered.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" he screamed.

A few seconds later, his demand was answered by another set of rapid clicks. He spun on his heel and saw the intruder uncloak. As he raised his weapon to fire, the intruder fired a bolt of his own. The blue bolt struck the rifle's barrel, just as Dementor pulled the trigger, firing a red bolt. Blue and red met, resulting in an explosion that reduced most of the blaster to scrap and sent the short villain skidding across the floor.

When he regained his senses, Dementor was acutely aware of the pain coursing through his body, especially around his face. Shrapnel from the gun was imbedded in the skin that was not protected by his helmet. His uniform was burning and was becoming infused with his skin. The smell of burning flesh filled his nose – _his_ burning flesh.

He struggled to move, and was reward to fresh pain washing over him. He fell back to the ground, crying out in agony.

Suddenly, he went still as growling filled his ears. He opened his eyes wide to see the figure standing over him. The intruder balled up his right hand into a fist, and the blades shot out from the wrist again.

As the intruder raised his arm, the blades poised to deliver the killing blow, Professor Dementor could only let out a blood-curdling scream.

Then, the blades fell, and all was silent, except for quiet clicking.

_To be continued…_

_Next time: The aftermath. Then, two more foes return. Who will get them first, Kim or the hunter?_


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and characters from the TV series © Disney, Predator © 20th Century Fox.

A/N: Hello, readers. I. Have. Returned.

I want to apologize to everyone for taking so long with this update. Blame it on writer's block, lack of inspiration, real life in general, or laziness, but the fact is, I'm sorry. But as I have stated (see Profile page), I'm not leaving this story unfinished, and I'm not removing it; I like it too much to just drop it by the wayside... for now.

I want to thank Muzzlehatch, noncynic, jacob, Worker72, Dark Degenerate, Cap'n Chryssalid, Midnight6, Ghostface317, Wispr, keth1, DDX Delta, Sky66, The Layman, zamzowwow, SecondSeraphim, elmoisemo6 and zzzoo99 for their reviews.

Special thanks to Midnight6; his review inspired a section of this story – read to find out what is was.

And of course, many thanks to my beta-reader, Tomboy 601, who was still interested in looking it over after two years.

Final word – I went back and updated the first three chapters. Nothing fancy. Just added some things here and there to add a little detail to the story.

Okay, I'm done boring you. On with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"Just a couple more miles and you're there." Wade said.

"Got it, thanks, Wade," Kim replied, glancing at the tech guru on the display screen before it went dark. Ron sat quietly in the passenger seat beside her, while Rufus sat perched on the dashboard.

"I'm sorry, KP." Ron spoke up, his tone solemn. "I messed up… again."

"It's no big, Ron. The important thing is that you're all right." She assured him. Aside from a fresh set of bruises and a bump on the head, he had no serious injuries. She gave him a playful grin. "Not a piece of cake like you thought it would be, huh?"

"Oh, it's a piece of cake, Kim. It's just stale, covered with mold, with flies buzzing around-"

"Ron, please," Kim quickly cut him off. "I happen to like cake, but if you keep talking like that, I may have to put off the dessert forever."

"Sorry." He replied sheepishly.

Suddenly, Rufus jumped up and down, chattering, getting their attention. He then pointed to a large complex that was looming into view.

As the car came to a stop, Ron looked at the building, and then looked at Kim in confusion.

"What are we doing here?"

"This is one of Dementor's lairs."

"Dementor's not going to be here, KP."

Kim arched an eyebrow and asked, "How do you know that?"

He looked at her like the answer should have been obvious.

"Hello, it's the Timeshare lair. Super villains like Dementor don't use a cheap rental lair right off the bat; it goes against tradition."

"Duh," Rufus deadpanned.

Kim rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's logic, but there was small part of her that had to admit he had a point. She then shook her head and turned back to him.

"I'll admit that, sort of, makes sense, but this lair is the closest to Middleton. So, we should check here first."

With that, the two teens and naked mole rat got out of the car and approached the lair. As per their method of "lair entry", they quickly located an air vent, and began to navigate their way through the ductwork.

Finally, Kim stopped when she came upon a grate. She peered through the slats, only to see darkness. There were no lights on; no movement; no hint of activity, evil or otherwise. As her eyes adjusted, she could barely make out several shadows on the floor.

She loosened the grate, pulled it into the duct and set it aside, and she jumped down to the floor, followed closely by Ron. No sooner had they touched down were they assaulted by a foul stench.

"Ugh, that's rank!" Ron whispered harshly, frantically waving a hand in front on his face. On his shoulder, Rufus was covering his nose with his paws, letting out a muffled squeak: "Eww!".

Kim pinched her nose as she surveyed the darkened room, but still could not make out the mysterious shapes on the floor. She looked around until she spotted a dimly lit control panel on the wall behind her; maybe it had a light switch. The redhead carefully made her way over to the wall.

Meanwhile, Ron took a couple steps further into the room. As he did, his foot bumped into something, making it scrape across the floor. Curious, he bent down and picked up the object in question. "What's this?" he wondered aloud, squinting to try and see it better.

Just then, Kim reached the control panel and pressed a button, and the lights came on. Now having clear vision, Ron blinked in surprise to see the one thing he never thought he'd see without its owner.

"Dementor helmet!" he exclaimed, instantly recognizing the black, dome-shaped helmet. He quickly turned to his girlfriend. "Hey, KP, take a loo-" The sentence died on his tongue when he saw her. She was braced against the wall; her face had gone pale, her eyes the size of dinner plates, and her expression – purely horrified.

"Kim?" Ron called in concern. He then noticed her wide eyes turned into the room, and he instinctively turned to see what she was looking at. Immediately, his expression mirrored hers. Rufus let out a high-pitched shriek as he practically leaped from Ron's shoulder and dive-bombed into his pocket.

Dementor's helmet slipped from Ron's suddenly numb fingers, hit the floor with a _clang_, and began rolling towards the center of the room. It came to a stop just a couple feet from the prone body of its owner. However, no one would ever see Dementor's true face, because his head was missing; nothing but a bloody nub in its place. There was also a deep hollow trench running down the back… where his spine should have been.

After a few seconds of looking at the bloodied corpse, Ron's hands flew to his mouth, stifling a gag. He then turned on his heel and ran down the nearest open corridor. A couple seconds later, the sounds of his retching echoed throughout the room.

Kim, meanwhile, was leaning up against the wall; she was breathing deeply and slowly, desperately trying to fight back the nausea overwhelming her. The sight alone was horrible, but the smell of blood and rotting flesh that filled her nose made it worse.

Finally, after a several more deep breaths, Kim managed to calm her rebelling stomach enough to keep from vomiting. She swallowed down the bile in the back of her throat, pushed away from the wall, and cautiously ventured further into the room. As she passed by, she gave Dementor's body a brief glance before turning her focus to the center of the room, where five of the villain's henchman lay. Like their former employer, they had been beheaded.

The young woman closed her eyes with a shuddering sigh. Even after the carnage she had seen a couple nights ago, she still found it difficult to…

The thought went unfinished as Kim's eyes snapped open, the memories of that night flooding back to the forefront of her mind. Slowly, she craned her head back, her eyes moving to the ceiling. Her eyes widened as she beheld an all too familiar scene – the remainder of the henchman, hanging from the ceiling… completely skinned.

"Oh, God," she whispered as she quickly averted her eyes.

"Kim?"

She turned to see Ron walking towards her, using his sleeve to wipe his mouth. When he was a few feet away, he happened to look up at the ceiling as she had. "Oh, man," he gasped. "It's… it's…"

Kim closed the last few feet between them; she then gently grabbed his face and turned it towards her. "I know, Ron. It's _him_," she said as she pulled him into a hug.

A second later, Ron wrapped his arms around her, and buried his face into the crook of her neck. "Why is this happening, KP?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled.

"I don't know, Ron," Kim replied, gently rubbing his back. "I… I just don't know."

They stayed that way for awhile, finding comfort in each other's arms. Finally, Kim pulled back a bit to look at Ron.

"You feel up to taking a look around?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment before finally nodding his head.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said. He then shrugged. "I mean, I really don't have anything left in my stomach to throw up, anyway."

"Oh, Ron," Kim groaned.

Ron just shrugged again, and then looked down at his pocket.

"Rufus, we're gonna look around, buddy." When he didn't get a response, he lightly patted his pocket, but was surprised when he didn't feel the lump that was his pet. He looked into the pocket, and sure enough, it was empty. "Rufus?" he called out as he looked around. "Rufus, where are you?"

Suddenly, both teens heard a high-pitched whistle, and they turned to see the naked mole rat waving his arms at them. Once he had their attention, he then scurried around behind the corpses. They both made their away around the bloody pileup until they finally got to where Rufus came to a stop. When they reached him, they saw a something very peculiar – a large puddle of some kind of green, florescent fluid.

"What is that stuff?" Ron asked as he and Kim knelt down next to the substance.

Kim quickly looked around, and spotted a six-inch piece of metal debris close to her. She picked it up, and dipped the end of it into the green substance. She then lifted it up, a quarter-sized amount of the goop on the tip, and observed it. Seeing no immediate reaction, Kim cautiously brought it closer to her face and took a sniff; her nose crinkled at the strong metallic musk coming from it.

"I'm not sure what it is," she said, "but… it smells like blood."

"Uh, KP," Ron replied skeptically, "I'll admit that Health class was another of the many subjects in which I scored a gentlemen's C, but I'm pretty sure that blood isn't green."

"Uh-uh!" Rufus squeaked in agreement as he climbed to Ron's shoulder. But then again, his sense of smell was better than his human companion's, and he silently agreed with Kim that that glowing green goop smelled a lot like blood.

"Well, we'll take a sample with us for Wade to analyze," Kim decided as she put the metal piece down and stood up. "For now, let's search the lair."

XXXXXXX

It took about half an hour to search the entire lair; they found all of the equipment that was stolen and no other signs of life. Kim then contacted Wade, relayed the information to him and had him alert the authorities, whom arrived twenty minutes later. After giving their statements, and getting a sample of the green florescent substance, Kim and Ron hopped into the car and headed back to Middleton.

Later that evening, they were joined by Monique at Kim's mobile home. The three teens and naked mole rat sat around the small kitchen table while Kim and Ron told their friend what they had discovered. At the center of the table, sat a small dish with the glowing, green fluid they had collected; Wade had already scanned it, but had yet to report back with the results. At the end of the story, Monique, feeling a little queasy in the stomach, politely asked for a glass of water, and a couple of Alka-Seltzer tablets, which Kim kindly provided. The redhead herself already had half a glass of the fizzing water to settle her stomach, while Ron and Rufus settled for munching on a bowl of popcorn, much to the shock of both girls; the boy simply replied that he needed something on his stomach.

They all sat in silence for the next few minutes when the Kimmunicator finally chirped.

"Go, Wade." Kim answered as the tech guru appeared on screen.

"Based on the analysis of the scan, it _is_ blood, Kim," he replied. "But its properties are like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Well, it looks like you were right, girl," Monique spoke up. "This killer's not completely human."

"Yeah," Kim acknowledged distractedly, looking at the green blood with a frown. A moment later she spoke again. "And I'm beginning to think that _it_ isn't from this planet, either."

Everyone went still at that statement – except for Ron, who had been in mid-swallow of his current mouthful, and was now coughing roughly to clear his windpipe. After a few minutes, the coughs subsided, and he turned to Kim.

"Oh man, you're thinking it's an alien?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

"It has to be, Ron. Look at the clues; its blood, the tech and weapons it's using, and then there's the superhuman strength and endurance it seems to have. I mean, each of Dementor's henchmen was at least two hundred pounds, and this thing was able to hang about half of them from the ceiling, which was at least sixty feet from the ground. The only human we know of with that kind of strength is Hego, and he is definitely not the kind of person who would do something like this."

While Ron and Monique thought about what she just told them, Kim looked to Wade's image on the screen.

"What do you think, Wade?"

"Well, since the Lorwardian invasion, I've been frequently tapping into the satellites that are still functioning, including your brothers', to monitor Earth's orbit." he reported. "So far there hasn't been any sign of any large alien ships." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "But, it is possible that a small craft could have gotten through undetected. So, your theory sounds plausible."

Kim nodded, but then frowned. "But that still leaves a lot of unanswered questions; what is it doing here? Why is it attacking only criminals and villains? And why is it taking their skins and skulls?"

Just then, a beeping came from Wade's computer. He typed a few keys and looked at his monitor; a second later his eyes widened in surprise. He then turned to Kim.

"You've got an incoming message, Kim… from Señor Senior, Senior."

Kim's eyebrows shot up. She looked up from the screen to her friends, their expressions that of bewilderment. After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she turned back to the screen. "Put him through."

Wade nodded and tapped a single key, and the image of the Triple S appeared on the Kimmunicator.

"Good evening, Kim Possible," the multi-billionaire greeted with a smile.

"Good evening, Senior," Kim replied, her expression neutral.

"I'm sure that you are surprised." Senior's expression was bemused.

"Actually, I am. I mean, it's not everyday that I get a call from one of my enemies." The redhead allowed a small half-smile to grace her lips as she added; "Unless, of course, it's to deliver an ultimatum."

This brought a chuckle from the man. "Indeed. But you need not fret, Miss Possible, it is nothing like that. It is actually about the events that took place a couple nights ago."

The smile fell from Kim's face. "What do you mean?"

"When you described to me the fate of those ruffians, it had a sense of familiarity at the time. The next day, I remembered that I have seen something similar to it before."

Kim unconsciously leaned in closer to the screen, her eyes never leaving Senior's, so she didn't noticed that Ron, Monique and Rufus were also leaning in close. They all listened as Triple S began his tale.

"When I was a child, I lived in a small village in Guatemala. The men would go into the jungle to hunt wild boar. On one such hunt, one man went missing. Later, those that found him said that he had been butchered. This tended to happen during the hottest years; sometimes one or two would disappear, sometimes more. One particularly hot year, when I was fifteen, several men went missing during a hunt, and I joined the search party. We found them; some without their skins… and others much, much worse."

Señor Senior, Senior paused in his story, giving his audience a chance to absorb that information. A couple minutes later, he continued.

"Two years later, I was able to leave and make my way to the United States. Over the next several years, as I began to make my vast fortune, I kept tabs on what was going on the jungles of Guatemala through connections and contacts I had made. And during that time, up until about ten years ago, I continued to hear whispers of _El Diablo cazador trofeo de los hombres_."

"Yeah, um, let's pretend I don't know what that means." Ron interjected.

Senior chuckled grimly. "Well, Ron Stoppable, it means 'the demon that makes trophies of men.'"

"Oh, good to know," the blond chuckled weakly, and Rufus just gulped loudly.

"That is all the information that I have for you, Kim Possible." the elder concluded.

"Thank you, Senior," Kim said sincerely. "It's definitely helpful."

"It is the least I can do." He replied. "After all, you and your friends helped assure Miss Rockwaller's safety. I know Junior is most grateful. He would thank you himself, but he is currently tending to his fiancé."

"Fiancé?" Ron and Monique repeated simultaneously in surprise, and a second later, Monique turned to Ron, pointed at him and said quickly, "Jinx, you owe me a soda!"

"Aw, man!"

Kim couldn't help but grin at the familiar saying. She then looked back to Senior on the screen; he wore an amused expression, obviously overhearing the exchange. "How is Bonnie doing?" she asked. "My mom told me that you, Junior and Bonnie parents were at the hospital, when she was discharged yesterday."

"Yes, I had made arrangements with them for her to come to our island, where she could relax and recuperate. Her parents were rather reluctant of letting her go. Finally, after my assurance she would be all right, and Bonnie's insistence, they agreed. She is currently doing well, receiving the best treatment money can buy."

"Good to know," Kim replied. She fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Listen, Señor, maybe it would be best if you and Junior didn't try any of your evil schemes for awhile, or, at the very least, stay out of Middleton, until I can find this killer and stop him."

"You need not worry, Miss Possible," he assured her. "For now, our focus will be on Miss Rockwaller's complete and rapid recovery. Besides, it will give me the chance to get to know my future daughter-in-law. Until next time, farewell, Kim Possible... and good luck." he added, giving her a respectable nod.

"Thank you, Señor." She returned the nod, then Senior's image disappeared and was replaced Wade's. Kim looked up at her friends, and saw Monique shaking her head.

"Mm-mm-mm. Can you believe it? Bonnie, the Queen of Mean, last one of our class to get a diploma, is now engaged to a villainous billionaire's son."

Kim just shrugged. "Funny world we live in, Mo." She fell silent, thinking about the information they had just received. "'The demon who makes trophies of men'. Well, that definitely explains a lot."

"Why would anyone want skins and skulls as trophies?" Ron asked. "Gold cups and plaques are much prettier to look at."

"Not all trophies are gold-plated, Ron," his girlfriend replied. "Big game hunters that go on safari usually take animals' heads or skins as trophies."

Rufus squeaked in horror and then scurried off the table and into Ron's pocket. The boy didn't notice. "So, we're dealing with some kind of... hunter alien?"

"It's looking that way." Kim looked back to her Kimmunicator. "Wade, see if you can find any info of those kills that have happened in Guatemala, and check to see if there were any similar killings at other locations." She then had an afterthought. "And get me into contact with Global Justice. I know they're preoccupied with clean up since the invasion, but maybe they can help fill in some of the blanks."

"You got it."

Suddenly, there was another beep from his computer. Wade punched a few keys, checked the monitor, then turned back to Kim. "Just got a hit on the site. Someone's breaking into one of the greenhouses at the Middleton Botanical Garden."

"Wait, we've got a botanical garden?" Ron asked, surprise evident in his voice and on his face.

Monique just shrugged. "Who knew?"

Kim sighed. "Ron and I are on it, Wade."

"Good luck, Kim. I'll send the information we have to Dr. Director, and I'll let her know it's urgent."

"Please and thank you." she replied before the screen switched off. "Let's get going, Ron," she said as she stood up from the table.

"Be careful, you two." Monique said as Ron stood up to follow Kim.

Kim gave her best girl pal a nod before she and Ron exited through the door.

XXXXXX

**He watched as the two Oomans exited the small dwelling and get into the ground transport parked close by. Once it was in motion, he quickly followed, staying a few yards back, while keeping them in sight.**

**The Hunter was satisfied with the last hunt. Those Oomans proved to be great sport, and worthy trophies. But just as he had finished hanging the remaining bodies, that female Ooman from before showed up along with her bumbling partner and that small strange rodent. As he observed them, he suddenly remembered that these were the same two Oomans that showed up shortly after he killed those first three.**

**Now he was curious about them. It seemed that whenever there was trouble, or violence occurring, they would show up. Could they be part of this planet's law enforcement? No, according to his scans, they were young, far younger than most of the Oomans in law enforcement, who were closer to middle-age. Plus, neither seemed to carry any type of weapons, melee or projectile. Yet the female's seem very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. But, due to her young age, he was reluctant to target her.**

**However, because she and her male companion seemed to go wherever there was trouble, perhaps by following her, he would find more worthy prey to hunt.**

XXXXXXX

After entering through the main gate of the botanical garden, Kim parked the Sloth, and she and Ron continued towards the greenhouses on foot, so as not to alert the perpetrators to their presence. A few minutes later, as they arrived at the greenhouses, they immediately spotted a large, nearly circular hole in the wall of the nearest greenhouse. Both teens entered through the hole and quietly began to navigate to the foliage.

Kim was the first to spot the intruders. There were four of them, all around the same height and build. Thanks to the light from the full moon pouring through the glass ceiling, she could make out the details. They were dressed in red and black uniforms, their faces covered, and their eyes glowed an eerie green color. She recognized them right away.

Synthodrones.

Kim watched as each of the goo-filled synthetics gathered up various exotic plants and placed them in a familiar hovercraft. _So _that's_ who's behind this break in._

Kim was torn from her thoughts when she heard Ron cry out her name. She turned to tell him to be quiet, but instead she saw him being dragged by his ankles into the shrubbery. She moved to follow, but came to a halt as something long and slender shot out from the same shrubbery Ron was dragged into, coming straight for her. She managed to leap to the side just as it struck the spot she previously occupied. Quickly recovering, she turned and saw that the thing that attacked was a plant vine, a small flower on the tip.

A second later, the vine swung around and headed for her again, and she was forced to leap away again. As she landed, the vine suddenly veered up and started to sway back and forth in front of her, like a cobra preparing to strike. Kim was so focused on the killer plant, that she failed to notice the second vine slithering up behind her, until it wrapped itself around her leg. The next thing she knew, she was pulled off of her feet and was soon hanging upside down.

"Kim!" She turned her head to see Ron also suspended in the air via a vine now wrapped around his midsection, pinning his arms to his sides.

Just then, the air was filled with the sound of all-too-familiar maniacal laughter. Both teens looked for the source before spotting the blue-skinned man, dressed in his trademark blue lab coat, walking out into the open; the vines that currently held them captive were protruding from his back. He looked up at them with a sinister smile.

"Kim Possible." Drakken greeted. "I trust that you and you monkey sidekick are enjoying your summer vacation."

"We _were_," Kim replied flatly, putting emphasis on the last word.

"Monkey sidekick?" Ron questioned, looking somewhat appalled. "I've gotten used to you not remembering my name, but 'monkey sidekick'? Where did that come from?"

"I'm just going by what Shego told me," Drakken shrugged. He had missed the final battle with Warmonga and Warhawk, and Shego had to fill him in. He found it hard to believe that the buffoon was the one to save them all, but he took the henchwoman's word for it.

"Speaking of which, where is Shego?" Kim asked, taking a quick look around. By now, the green-skinned woman would have shown herself.

"Still on vacation."

For some reason, Kim felt somewhat relieved to hear that; one less thing to worry about. The thought of Shego being killed by the alien hunter sent a shudder through her. She pushed the thought away and focused on the madman below her. "So, I take it you've decided to try the world domination thing, again? And since you're stealing from this greenhouse, I'm betting you're falling back on your 'Monster Plant' plot?"

"Precisely!" Drakken replied. "You've seen the results of my pollinator mutagen and how well it worked against the aliens. I figured I could experiment and see how it would work on different plants, creating new killer plants, hence the reason I'm here. They have such a variety."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You're throwing away the pardon you were granted."

"Since you should already know that were going to stop you." Ron added.

"Are you sure of that?" Drakken asked with an air of confidence. "My plants were able to take down those alien drones, when Kim Possible, herself, could not defeat them. That, combined with my new mutant abilities, my victory is all but assured."

"Well, someone thinks highly of himself." Kim said, "considering he's always let Shego and his henchmen do all the fighting."

"Yeah," Ron nodded, "and have you forgotten what Shego told you, that I'm the one who took out two super-bad aliens with my mystical monkey power?"

"Which is why I immobilized you first." the mad scientist pointed out.

"Good point." Ron conceded.

"As to why I Shego isn't with me, I wanted to see what the new me can do." He looked at them with a smug grin. "And I have to say, I'm off to a pretty good start." It was a that moment when Drakken's marigold petals popped out around his head, which caused him to scowl.

"You know, mutant powers or not, it's hard to take you seriously when you look like that." Kim said with a smirk.

Drakken growled as started to rip the petals off. While he did that, Kim took advantage of the distraction to reach into the pouch on her hip, pull out her laser lipstick, which she quickly used to severe the vine holding her. Drakken barely had time to react as Kim landed upright and immediately launched herself towards him with a flying kick, hitting him in the solar plexus. Just as he was about to hit the ground, two more vines sprouted from his back, cushioning his landing. Once he was on his feet again, the vines moved to attack Kim.

Meanwhile, Rufus came out Ron's pocket and up his owner's body until his reached the vine around his torso. Using his buck teeth and claws, he quickly gnawed through the tendril. Ron managed to land safely on his feet, and he lifted hand to catch Rufus. "Boo-yah! Nice work, little buddy!" he exclaimed, offering his palm, which the naked mole rat happily high-fived.

"Ron!" He turned at his girlfriend's voice. She was leaping and dodging the two whipping vines, plus the one she had severed. "Now would be a good time to use that monkey magic!"

"I need a few minutes to start it up, KP!" He quickly moved back to avoid the fourth vine that tried to grab him again. He would need to get somewhere safe, so he would have the chance to concentrate and bring out the power he needed. As he backed away, keeping his eye on the vine, he ran into something that halted his retreat. He turned to see a synthodrone blocking his path. Rufus summed up what he was thinking in one word: "Uh-oh!"

"Well put," Ron agreed before ducking a punch aimed at his head. He was instantly running, the synthodrone on his tail.

Kim was having her own difficulties. The vines were making it impossible to get close to Drakken; they almost seemed to move with a will of their own. Whenever she dodge one, another would move in for a strike, and when she used her laser to severe one, the limb would grow back within seconds.

Drakken laughed excitedly. "I really should have gone green years ago. I'm actually a match for Kim Possible!"

The teen couldn't believe that he was right. She almost felt like laughing too, at the absurdity of it all. The blue-skinned man went from a guy who let others do his fighting for him, to a mutant who was keeping her on the defensive. She tore her eyes away for a second to spot Ron. She found him now running from two of the synthodrones, while the other two continued to load plants into the hovercraft. The sitch was not looking too good.

And of course, there was the alien hunter to worry about. If it was still in Middleton, it could show up at any minute.

"Drakken, listen. You're in danger." she warned.

"Ha! Not from where I'm standing!" he scoffed.

"I'm serious!" She backflipped away from a vine that slammed into the ground where she had been standing. She then lifted her laser to slice through another tendril that tried to sneak up on her. "There's a killer on the loose!"

"And I should be concerned, why?"

"I think it's an alien!" Drakken froze, the vines ceasing their attack. Kim stood her ground, not wanting to set him off again. She hoped he would listen to her.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"I don't know for certain, but I do know its got advanced weaponry and stealth tech. It's somewhere in Middleton, killing people." Kim explained. "Two nights ago, it killed three thugs that attacked a classmate of mine, and yesterday it killed Dementor and his henchmen."

This got a reaction. Drakken looked shocked, to say the least. "D-Dementor's... dead?"

"Yes." she nodded. "He and his henchmen came to Middleton to steal equipment and retreated to his lair. When we got there, we found them... completely skinned." She shuddered at the memory.

Drakken was silent for a moment. Suddenly, he burst into laughter, nearly doubling over. This went on for a few minutes, Kim watching in utter confusion. Finally he caught his breath to answer. "Oh! You... you really had me going there for moment, Kim... Possible! That's quite a yarn you've spun."

"I am not making this up!" Kim snapped. "It's the truth!"

"Please! You're just trying to distract me!"

Kim gritted her teeth in frustration while she vented a low growl. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. She took a deep breath, trying to keep calm; she needed to keep a level head about this. She looked at the mad scientist and spoke calmly; "Drakken, this is for real. I need you to stop this plot, and come with me."

Drakken crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "Like I'm going to fall for that. You just want to turn me in to the authorities."

"I want to _protect_ you." She replied, emphasizing the word "protect". "This thing is still loose in Middleton. There is a chance that you could be killed. I'm trying to prevent that."

Drakken just sniffed indignantly. "Even if I did believe you – which I _don't_ – I'm don't want or need your 'protection', Kim Possible. With these new powers, I can handle any thing that comes my way, alien or otherwise. And that includes _you_!"

With that, the vines resumed their attack. Kim was able to dodge the first few swipes, but then reacted a split-second too late as one finally wrapped around her waist. She was lifted off the ground, and before she could severe the limb with her laser, she was suddenly flung through the air. Her flight was rudely interrupted when she slammed into a pine tree. She cried out as pain shot through her from the impact. She was on the verge of blacking out as she slumped to the ground.

Ron came to a halt when he heard his girlfriend's cry. He didn't have the time to concentrate on summoning his power because he was trying to keep distance between him and the synthodrones, who were in constant pursuit. That plan went out the window when he saw his Kim slumped against a tree.

"Kim!" he shouted, intending to run to her aid, but he was halted by a large gloved hand clamping onto his shoulder. A second later, he too cried out in pain as the synthodrone sent a current of electricity through his body.

Rufus, who had separated from Ron during the chase, climbed up the synthetic's body till he reached the neck. He immediately sank his teeth into the drone's suit, tearing a chunk of the material, causing syntho-goo to spill from the inflicted wound. Within seconds, the synthodrone began to shrivel as its life blood bled away; this caused it to cease its electric attack on Ron, who slumped to his knees, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

With the synthodrone out of commission, Rufus quickly moved to his owner's side, checking to see if he was all right. Just then, a shadow loomed over them, and Rufus looked to see the second synthodrone standing over them. The naked mole rat quickly leapt onto Ron's back, growling at the drone while baring his teeth and claws, threateningly. But it did very little good as the synthodrone reached a hand out to grab him.

"Leave him!"

Drakken's command halted its movement, and it pulled away to stand upright, much to Rufus's relief.

"We're finished here. Let's go!" Drakken ordered.

The synthodrone obeyed, marching towards the hovercraft, where the remaining two synthodrones had finished loading the plants and were in their seats. Drakken was soon in his seat, and in short order, the hovercraft was in the air.

About this time, Kim was shaking her head to clear it, and she looked up to see the craft in midair and maneuvering towards the hole in the wall. She tried to rise, but she felt a jolt of pain shoot through her, which caused her to collapse again.

Drakken noticed this, and he laughed triumphantly. "Well, well, Kim Possible, it appears that victory is mine at last! When we meet again, I will be overlord of this world. Until then, farewell!"

With that the hovercraft flew through the hole and was gone from sight, Drakken's laughter fading into the night.

"No." Kim whispered helplessly. She then forced herself onto her feet, using the tree to steady herself. The pain was beginning to fade, but her mood was still dour. This is the second time that a villain escaped, and if she didn't hurry, this would be yet another death at the hands of the extraterrestrial killer.

Determined to not let that happen, Kim pushed away from the tree, and made her over to help Ron, who was starting to rouse from unconsciousness.

XXXXXXX

**It appeared that his hunch was correct; by following the two Oomans, he would be lead to potential prey. And lead him they did. This new Ooman was very intriguing; scans showed that he was some kind of mutation, a mutation with exceptional abilities. There were also four other beings that hadn't originally shown up on his normal spectrum; after a few adjustments to his vision, he was able to analyze them, and he discovered that they were not Oomans. They were some type of synthetic beings with built-in circuitry; Ooman-made most likely.**

**He growled in anticipation. This would make for a good challenge.**

**The Hunter leapt from rooftop to rooftop, keeping up with his quarry's craft, while staying back far enough to avoid detection. They traveled several miles before the craft stopped before a large structure similar to the one where he killed the others. Once the doors opened and the craft flew inside, the Hunter quickly slipped in as they were closing.**

**He watched as the craft landed and the mutant disembarked, laughing and talking as he did. His helmet picked up the Ooman's distorted voice; having hunted these creatures many times before, he had gotten to the point to where he could understand most of the words of their language. For now, he would listen, observe, and wait for the opportune moment to strike.**

_**- - - "Hahahaha! I actually did it! I beat Kim Possible and her sidekick... by myself! Who's the man? Who's the man? Doctor Drakken, that's who! Hahahaha! I am unstoppable!" - - -**_

_**- - - "Actually, that's the sidekick's name, Dr. D." - - -**_

**The Hunter turned towards the new voice and saw another Ooman walking towards the mutant. This one was female, older than the one he followed. But his attention was on her heat signature; what he saw shocked him. Her heat burned brighter than the mutant's; in fact it burned brighter than any Ooman's. An analysis scan showed that her body was radiating with an energy unlike anything he had ever seen.**

**He gave a quick glance at the mutated Ooman; his posture showed that he too was also shocked by the female's presence.**

XXXXXXX

"Shego!" Drakken was shocked to see the green-skinned woman, clad in her trademark black-and-green catsuit, approaching him. He hadn't expected her to be there. After they received their pardons, she left for the Hawaiian Islands for a little down time. The last time he talked to her was on the phone yesterday. She had called to check up on him, but he never told her about his plot. "I thought you were still on vacation?"

"I was," she confirmed as she stopped in front of him and place a hand on her hip. "When I found out that you were going back to the world domination biz, I figured you were going to need me to save your ass from Kimmie."

"But how did you find out about this?" he questioned.

"You told me."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did. You said, 'I have busy day tomorrow, Shego. Big plans in the works'" she quoted, imitating his voice.

"How did that help you figure out what I was planning?"

"It wasn't the sentence, Dr. D. It was your chuckle afterward."

"My chuckle?" he repeated in confusion.

"That maniacal chuckle you use when you think you've got the greatest doomsday plan ever." Shego smirked at the baffled look that crossed his face. "I've worked with you for years, Dr. D, so I've gotten to know that laugh pretty well."

"But how did you know I would be here?"

"I traced your cell phone, and I remembered you had a layer built near Middleton because you believed Kimmie wouldn't suspect a villain to be close to her own hometown. So after I tracked you down, I followed you to the garden on my hoverboard, and watched you fight Kimmie, and after you escaped, I headed back here."

"Then how did you get back here before me?" he asked.

"Doy, I was on my own. You were piloting yourself, three synthodrones, and a bunch of potted plants; plus your hovercraft has more bulk than my board. Add it all up, and you've got the simple conclusion that I was lighter than you, therefore quicker than you." she finished while wearing her usual smirk.

Drakken ground his teeth together. The woman's attitude could be so aggravating. Before he could voice this, she cut him off. "Why didn't you have me come with you? I figured you would have flown down to Hawaii and drag me along to help."

"Well... given the powers I received from the mutagen, I wanted to see how I could fare against Kim Possible myself," He answered, giving her the same explanation he gave Kim. That was only half the truth. The other was he didn't want to get her involved in this. Shego had been granted a full pardon just as he was, but just because he was throwing his freedom away, that didn't mean he had the right to do the same with hers. Not that he was going to tell her that, not wanting her to think he was showing concern for her – that wouldn't go over so well. "Since you were watching, you've seen the results."

Shego nodded. "Yeah, I did. You actually did pretty well, Dr. D. You not only managed not to fuck up that little raid," Drakken scowled at the profanity. "but also you managed to keep Kimmie on her toes; all by yourself." She allowed a small grin to cross her lips. "It seems flower power works for you. Color me impressed."

Drakken puffed out his chest and pressed his fists into his hips. "Well, it's about time you showed me some respect, Shego."

"Don't push it." Shego warned, letting green flames dance along her claws. Drakken deflated a bit and timidly mumbled an apology. As she douse the flames, she thought back on the fight, and something caught her attention. "Dr. D, I wasn't able to hear what you all were saying, but it looked like Kimmie said something that distracted you for a moment. What did she say to you?"

"Oh, just trying to throw me with her lies." Drakken replied with a wave of his hand.

"Kimmie, lying?" Shego frowned. The only time she ever heard of Kim lying was that one time on Halloween. "What exactly did she say?"

"Some nonsense about Dementor and his henchmen being dead," he said offhandedly.

"Dead?" she echoed, her eyebrow shooting up.

"Yeah, something about an alien killing and skinning them."

"Whoa, whoa, time-out!" Shego said, making a time-out gesture with her hands. "What alien?"

"Kim Possible said that an alien was in Middleton and it killed some people, including Dementor." He scoffed. "Utterly ridiculous."

"Drakken, you had an alien woman bust you out of jail and doing your bidding a few months ago, and you and Kimmie were captured by said alien woman and her bulky alien buddy, who used their drones to destroy every major city around the world. Now Kimmie's saying there's an alien out there murdering people, and you don't think that maybe, just _maybe_, that Kimmie was actually telling the truth?" Shego asked incredulously.

Drakken opened his mouth to make a remark, but then stopped, shut his mouth and thought about it. He then gave the henchwoman a sheepish look. "Well, when you put it that way..."

Shego vented an exasperated sigh. "There's one way to know for sure." She quickly made her way over to a computer console, switched it on and began typing. She sense Drakken now beside her, but paid him no mind as she typed "recent deaths in Middleton" into the search engine. Two seconds after hitting search, the results popped up. Shego clicked on the top link, "Mysterious Murders in Middleton". The article included a recent news clip, which she immediately pressed play, and the image of a blonde anchorwoman appeared on screen.

"_Earlier today, the super villain known as Professor Dementor, was found murdered, along with twelve men in his employ, in a lair ten miles north of Middleton. Six of the bodies had their heads severed, including Dementor's, while the remaining seven were suspended from the ceiling, with their skins removed. This brings the number of recent deaths in Middeton to sixteen. The first three victims – __Johnny Thompson, Devon Adams and Sass Evans, all age twenty-seven –__ were killed in similar fashion two days prior. The identity of the killer has yet to be discovered..."_

Shego clicked the pause button, not needing to hear anymore. She then turned to Drakken. "Looks like Kimmie wasn't lying, Dr D."

"I... I can't believe it." He muttered, shaking his numbly. "He's dead... Dementor is dead."

"What else did Kimmie say about this alien?" Drakken didn't respond; he continued to stare numbly at the screen. Shego grabbed him by the shoulders and firmly turned him towards her. "Drew, focus!" she said sternly, shaking him to get his attention. "What did she say!"

"S-she said that... the alien had advanced weaponry and... stealth technology." he finished, his eyes widening as he remembered that last part.

"And Dementor was found dead in his own lair," Shego reminded him, her voice calm despite the growing sense of anxiousness.

"Oh, snap."

"Dr. D, have the synthodrones scan the lair for unknown heat signatures. Now!"

Drakken complied. The synthodrones, who were in the process of unloading the plants, set the plants down and activated their sensors. Three seconds later, much to the dismay of Drakken and Shego, they announced in almost perfect sync: "Warning! Unknown heat signature detected! Warning! Unknown heat signature detected!"

"Well, don't just there! Locate and capture the source!" Drakken commanded anxiously.

All three synthodrones moved towards Drakken and Shego. About twenty feet from them, the first synthodrone reached out and grabbed the open air. What surprised both the mad scientist and the henchwoman was a growl that seemed to follow this action. The second synthodrone moved two feet to the right of its counterpart and mimicked its action, and the final jumped between them and grabbed the air, too, only the synthetic was now suspended a couple feet off the ground. Shego and Drakken watched in shock as all three drones were flailing all around; all the while, the air was filled with fierce growling.

Suddenly, the synthodrone on the right lost its grip on whatever it was holding, and split-second later, its chest caved in with such force that it was driven to the ground. A blade ring pierced the air, and a second later the first synthodrone was slashed across the chest; syntho-goo sprayed from the wound, splashing onto the floor, and, much to Shego and Drakken's luck, onto the intruder revealing some of his silhouette. As the first fell to the floor, the assailant reached up and grabbed the one wrapped around his neck, and with frightening ease, threw it over his head and right into the ground in front of him. The hard impact caused syntho-goo to burst out from various spots on its body. Before it could begin to really bleed out and shrivel up, the intruder brought his foot down upon its head, completely squashing it. By then, the final synthodrone was on its feet and moving towards the intruder, but it barely took three steps when the assailant brought his arm around and the synthodrone's head flew from its body, cut cleanly through the neck. As the body collapsed, some of its goo spilled onto the assailants arm, revealing more of his silhouette, including what looked like serrated blades on his arm.

Most of the syntho-goo was quickly dripping off of the intruder's body, making it difficult to see him again, but Shego acted quickly, activating her powers and launching a strong blast which connected, knocking him back several feet. The intruder let out a pain growl before turning what Shego assumed was his head and looked at her. There was a rapid clicking that filled the air for a second, and a pair of small yellow lights briefly flashed into view.

Just before Shego could fire another blast, the assailant suddenly materialized out of thin air, finally bringing him face-to-face with her and Drakken. One thought sprung to the green-skinned woman's mind as she looked upon him.

_Holy shit!_

_To be continued..._

_Next time: the fight is on! Hunter vs. Drakken and Shego! Who will survive? Will Kim and Ron arrive in time?_

* * *

I apologize if anyone seemed OOC, and I'm sorry if this chapter didn't make up for the two years of neglect, but I promise, there will be plenty of action in the next one.


End file.
